Hi @Bob_Falcone! It is two-to-three months early for the blooms here in Arizona. Those of us who have been tracking the blooms aren’t exactly sure why. We’ve had bountiful rain “at the right time” (meaning October through December), thanks to the early onset of an El Nino weather pattern. Typically, this triggers the blooms of annuals like the Mexican Gold and California poppies in mid-to-late February through the end of March (peak depends on the elevation and location within the state). We haven’t been overly warm (in fact, we’ve maybe been on the cold side) or sunny (lots of clouds this fall and winter). We’ve been on the brink of frost/freeze warnings here in Phoenix, which can stop annual blooms in their tracks…the perennials are a bit hardier and seem to get through it OK.
The desert bloom timing is definitely wonky, though, as we’ve been seeing brittlebush, fairy dusters, marigolds, poppies, scorpionweed, etc. around Phoenix for almost the last month. We honestly have no idea what will happen when all of this is supposed to bloom. We hope not the apocalypse! LOL! In the 45+ years of Paul Gill’s and my combined experience with monitoring the wildflowers in Arizona, we’ve never seen anything like this.
Overall, Arizona typically blooms February to the end of September depending on the elevation…places like Flagstaff will follow the timing of a higher elevation bloom like what Colorado experiences.
Thanks @David_Kingham for the shout out on my “Wild in Arizona: Photographing Arizona’s Wildflower, A Guide to When, Where, & How” guidebook. It was a great kick in the pants for me to (finally) submit my eBooks to the NPN Marketplace, which I did this afternoon, in hopes of sharing our knowledge and experience with others. We hope it gets people WILD about wildflowers!