There is a webcam near our home in Wyoming that I check while we’re wintering in Nevada, and before that, in CA. It is normal to see the ground covered in snow from November to April.
This has not been a normal year for western WY. We’ve had snow but as much as half the time the ground has been bare, it is so now. Snow falls but no snow pack builds up, and it melts.
Temperatures have been plenty cold enough but no serious snow. I fear we may have water shortages come late spring to early fall when we’re in residence.
We’ve had dry summers before, I remember times twenty years ago when we weren’t supposed to water our landscaping, I hope this won’t be another of those.
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Meanwhile spring has come nearly a month early to the Mojave, which is typical. Monday in St. George UT we saw fruit trees in full bloom. The desert has taken on a faint green sheen, which lasts for maybe a month or two. Current weather approximates that in WY in June.
Our Mojave isn't a "cactus" desert, it is bare ground with low chaparral (waist high) and occasional Joshua trees. Both turn a bit green as this is their quite short growing season. By the first of May they'll be hunkered down to survive a ten month drought and withering heat up to 120℉ (49℃). The Mojave is said to be North America's driest desert.
Cactus and palm trees thrive here but they are imports, mesquite is local but not widespread, except where included in landscaping. Native plant life is relatively uninspiring, dreary even, hard to love.
Cactus - saguaro, barrel, cholla, ocotillo, prickly pear - are native to the Sonoran desert around Tucson, and are imported landscaping hereabouts.
