desert blooming after rainfall

[patmartin]

This is a rare phenomenon (e.g. this April in Death Valley, California) occuring perhaps once a century in such areas. I believe there is a special name for this phenomenon, a longish word of 9-10-11 letters or so, ending in -ORA, which I once read somewhere years ago but have never been able to recall or verify in any dictionary, not even with the recent help of Google or Onelook's new reverse dictionary service. Can anyone help this long-dormant seed in my imagination now to come to fruition after all this time?

[kev100]

What is this rare phenomenen concerned with?

[brachiopod]

I think it happens somewhere every few years - it's just that the rainfall is very localised, and confined to one area / drainage basin.

Thus, the chances of it occurring in a given area of that desert region are in the order of 'once-a-century' in probability terms.

Can't remember the term for it, but you've got me thinking now !!