Outdoors
Snakes, encouraged by recent warm temperatures, have already emerged from burrows and rock crevices to hunt for prey throughout the county’s lower-elevation hillsides and canyons. Gopher snakes, garter snakes, king snakes, rosy boas (all harmless), ...
Yuccas of two varieties are in bloom in San Diego County from now through May. Year after year, the Mojave yucca Yucca schidigera sends up a blunt flower stalk of white, waxy blossoms from the ...
Vernal Equinox on Sunday, March 20, at 8:32am Pacific Daylight Time heralds the beginning of the spring season for Earth’s northern hemisphere. At the instant of vernal equinox, the sun lies in the plane of ...
Pacific Daylight Time, or “daylight saving time,” starts on Saturday morning, March 13, at 2 am. No time is “saved” by advancing our clocks one hour. This sneaky trick in civil time is designed to ...
Ceanothus, or wild lilac, begins its annual blooming cycle this month — at least in the warmer coastal areas. Assuming sufficient rainfall arrives, by March virtually every chaparral-covered canyon and hillside on the coastal strip ...
Ornamental Peach Trees, with radiant white and pink blossoms, are lighting up the manicured landscape around Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street in Balboa Park. These and other “stone-fruit” trees, with and without edible fruits, belong ...
Manzanita Shrubs are starting to bloom this month in the foothill areas of the Cleveland National Forest. The various manzanitas, characterized by smooth, reddish bark and tough, leathery leaves, bear myriads of tiny, white to ...
Ocean Water Temperatures, of late in the high 50s Fahrenheit, are finally on the upswing this month as the daylight hours lengthen and the sun arcs higher overhead in the sky each day. It will ...
Lupines, whose spiky, purple (sometimes yellow) flower clusters adorn grassy areas and disturbed patches of soil, are beginning to pop up all over San Diego County. If desert rainfall cooperates, you’ll spot lupines along the ...
The Sun Strides North in February, swinging higher across the sky each successive day. Already quite noticeable is the change in the time of sunset, currently almost a minute later per day, and sunrise, currently ...
Cross-Country Skiers are in for a short-lived treat late this month through February if winter storms intense enough to drop several inches to two feet of snow hit San Diego County’s higher mountains. As the ...