Vegetation / animal life

[AllDownhillFromHere]

I've only experience in SoCal in the late-Feb to mid-Mar timeframe, where things were still pretty dead and only barely starting to green up. I realize this was a wet winter, but what's the plant/animal life situation mid-to-late May? Has Spring ended, and everything is brown and dry? Purely elevation dependent? I'm looking at 2016 pics from April and seeing a lot of green, but I personally don't know what's normal.

[Miner]

Depends on the rain fall. This year, assuming no more significant rain, things will likely start to brown up in May, but it should still be pretty green in all but the true desert areas. As you noted, it is elevation dependent do higher up will be green for even longer.

I don't expect to see a solid sea of brown til sometime in June in a normal year where I live.