Saturday scenes and scenery: San Francisco spring in February

It's lovely. This street is in an area that is as close to squalid as any in the city … but there is this.


The trees aren't waiting for the calendar. Spring in full flower is not unheard of in February here, but it does seem to come earlier every year.


That's okay with me.


What exuberance!




Some plants are more subtle, and all the more amazing, when they flower.


Others announce themselves dramatically. Happy spring!

UPDATE: Apparently these lovely spring days portend a water shortage:

The snowpack, dubbed California's "frozen reservoir" by water officials, normally provides about a third of the water for California's farms and communities. But only 2.2 inches of rain has fallen since December in the mountainous regions from Shasta Lake to the American River, just 13 percent of average. The next driest first two months of the year occurred in 1991, when 4 inches of precipitation fell, water department officials said.

There would have to be several big, icy storms over the next month to get the state close to normal precipitation this year, but no precipitation is currently forecast.

Uh oh ...

These photos are by-products from my photoblog project: 596 Precincts -- Walking San Francisco. If intrigued, take a look and sign up for sporadic email updates.