El Niño's Color PayoffDuring the winter of 1997-98, El Niño sent powerful storms smashing into the coast and over the high mountain barricades of California to deliver a rare bounty to the deserts of the Southwest. In response to this windfall, the deserts have mounted a display of flowers and blossoms we are likely to witness only once or twice in a lifetime. Normally dry gullies are now rushing torrents. The insects, birds, rodents, snakes, and other animals abound in this bright moment, asserting the desert's power of renewal. |
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