CALIFORNIA IN FULL BLOOM

Then-and-now pictures show just how extraordinary this year’s flora mass appears — for astronauts and those of us on the ground

Call it the Super Bloom of Seventeen. Thanks to our now-record-breaking rainfall season, California is enjoying a wildflower extravaganza in its southern desert lands, and it’s so prolific that you can see it from outer space. Thanks to high-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Labs, a start-up company founded by three exNASA engineers, it’s possible to get a bird’s-eye view of these earthbound color bombs, including sprawling carpets of wildflowers in Carrizo Plain

National Monument, Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge and just north of Los Padres National Forest.

And Planet Labs’ photos also show a beforeand-after, placing images of the same areas from 2016 and 2017, capturing the profound transition under way.

You can move the white scroll bar in the middle of each photo from left to right to see the before — brown and red dirt — and the after — fields of California poppies, lupine, brittlebush, purple desert lavender, flaming-red ocotillo and much much more.

The super bloom under way in Southern California comes courtesy of the nearly 10 inches of much-needed winter rain dumped on the region this past winter. For four years, the state has struggled with a serious drought that drained reservoirs and prompted water bans. But this year’s El Niño winter brought the rain, and the wildflowers are really going to town as a result.

For more information on where you can see these spectacular blooms now and in the coming weeks, go to visitcalifornia.com, which created a list of when California regions will see peak blooms. Prepare to be amazed.

PLANET.COM A satellite image of Los Padres National Forest taken March 31, above, shows the superbloom of wildflowers in the wake of heavy California winter rains. The image below shows what the area looked like in December.