When the Bay Area Changed From Yellow To Green To Snowy White

We love the green but we are still in a drought

A response to the “Let’s Show Some Green” March challenge by Anne Bonfert on Globetrotters.

I know, I know, your reaction to the picture must be, “What?! How is this lush?”

Bear with me as I tell you the story of California, specifically the Bay Area, weather changes we have experienced this winter.

California has experienced a series of droughts since the winter of 2019 when our Governor declared a statewide drought emergency to call upon Californians to double up their water conservation efforts.

California weather alters between El Niño (wet) and La Niña (dry) — these are large climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean. We are supposed to be in the fourth year of dry weather.

But as extreme weather expert Katerina Gonzales said, Northern California is at the cusp of a wet-dry pattern. With so many things happening in the atmosphere, we have been tipped to extremely wet weather this year.

A series of atmospheric rivers fell upon the Bay Area at the end of last year, prompting our Governor to declare another emergency on January 4 for large winter storms.

Much like a river is water moving over land, an atmospheric river is a stream of water vapor moving in the sky.

~ SciJinks

As all our reservoirs have been running low, this atmospheric river is welcome, except because the trees have been so stressed from the drought, many end up falling, causing more emergencies!

Let’s get back to the prompt and explore some history of Mission Peak, which the above picture depicts.

Mission Peak

Mission Peak is a mountain peak located east of Fremont, California. Its trail crest joins into the Bay Area Ridge Trail, now connecting 75 parks. At the peak, one can see the Sierra Nevada to the northeast.

It has been popular with local hikers since it is located at the fringe of Silicon Valley.

Mission Peak has historical significance. It reflects the history of the Ohlone Indians who co-existed with the priests from the 14th Spanish Mission in California who founded Mission San Jose.

Hikers are transversing between history and the present — seeing wilderness on one side of the hill and civilizations on the other.

That is why Mission Peak (not Tesla) is on the logo of the city of Fremont!

The 3,000-plus acres with an elevation of 2,500 feet consist of a 6-mile round trip hike for 3 to 5 hours. It consists of mainly desert land punctuated with oaks and grassland.

The sad truth is, while I have been a frequent visitor to Fremont for many years (as my boyfriend lives here), I have never gone up to this famous Mission Peak.

You might wonder why?

When the hill is so close to home, you look at it and ignore it. Besides, the peak looks nothing spectacular from afar because of the drought.

It was never inviting to me (although it has been very popular with hikers) until the recent atmospheric river changed the landscape 180 degrees to lush and green now(see the contrast with the first picture):

A couple of weeks later in February, the extreme weather brought us more winter storms with snow falling on many parts of the Bay Area — a once in every 15 years event. On Google trends, Californians have been searching the term snow more than rain.

There you have it, a snow-capped Mission Peak.

Still, I am grateful that the rain has replenished the barren landscape.

Thank you for the wonderful prompt from Globetrotters and thanks for taking a walk with me through Mission Peak turning from yellow, and green, to white in a matter of 4 months!

I would also like to tag the wonderful essay by Adrienne Beaumont taking us around Ireland and its history:

I have also enjoyed this spectacular tour of Haleakalā National Park in Maui by Erika Burkhalter where you can literally walk in the air:

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