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Ladybug ‘bloom’ shows up on National Weather Service radar

Posted at 8:03 PM, Jun 05, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-05 20:03:13-04

SAN DIEGO – A large blotch that could have been mistaken for rain moving into Southern California Tuesday was actually a massive swarm of ladybugs, the National Weather Service said in a tweet.

"The large echo showing up on SoCal radar this evening is not precipitation, but actually a cloud of lady bugs termed a 'bloom,'" NWS San Diego tweeted.

Joe Dandrea, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, estimated the bloom to be about 80 miles by 80 miles, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Despite the uniform, colored blob that appears on radar over San Diego County, Dandrea said the ladybugs likely didn't form a dense cloud of that size. He said a spotter in the San Bernardino Mountains described the ladybugs as "little specks flying by."