
Stunning satellite images of Southern California's 'superbloom' of poppy flowers reveal that the blossoms are so vibrant and orange, they're even visible from outer space.

The blooming poppies have taken over the hilly city of Lake Elsinore, California, concentrated along the Walker Canyon.

The beautiful and overwhelming bloom of the wild flowers has attracted tens of thousands of flower-crazed tourists who have collectively shut down the area and caused huge traffic jams, all in pursuit of the perfect Instagram with the rare spectacle.

While the flowers are dazzling on Earth, they even make one catch their breath when seen from outer space.

Satellite images snapped on Tuesday show a generous dusting of orange along the canyon and in Lake Elsinore.

The poppies stretch across the mountains, crop up alongside highways, and transform rolling hills of green into captivating golden slopes.

Incredible satellite images snapped on Tuesday from outer space show the orange poppy 'superbloom' taking over Southern California

Over the past two weeks a massive bloom of poppy flowers took over Lake Eilsinore and Walker Canyon in a stunning display

The poppies stretch across the mountains, crop up alongside highways, and transform rolling hills of green into captivating golden slopes

The blooms took over the southern California hills after the area experienced heavy winter rain followed by warm temperatures

A super bloom occurs when warm temperatures follow stretches of winter rain and the explosion of flowers exceeds average spring-time blooms.

Over the past two weeks the green hills transformed slowly but surely into poppy fields.

The color of the poppies is so vivid it can be seen from mountain tops hundreds of feet above.

The super bloom was originally met with excitement in the community of 66,000, which is about a 90-minutes drive from both Los Angeles and San Diego.

But problems quickly arose this weekend, including traffic and people leaving trails and trampling the flowers.

Officials in Lake Elsinore in Southern California were forced to close its public viewing of a super bloom of poppies on Sunday after being overrun by tens of thousands of flower-crazed tourists

Tens of thousands of tourists were spotted posing for pictures among the scores of flowers following the super bloom of poppies

The hashtags #poppyshutdown and #poppyapocalypse began spreading on Twitter.

The city initially tweeted that roads were jammed, traffic on Interstate 15 had stopped moving and law enforcement assistance was requested from neighboring jurisdictions to deal with the crush.

But the city then shut down access saying the weekend had become unbearable and they were not able to sustain 'Disneyland size crowds'.

There was an estimated 50,000 visitors on Saturday alone and people started lining up at 5.30am to catch a glimpse of the flowers.

'The situation has escalated beyond our available resources. No additional shuttles or visitors will be allowed into Walker Canyon. This weekend has been unbearable Lake Elsinore,' city officials said on Facebook.

'We know it has been miserable and has caused unnecessary hardships for our entire community.'

The super bloom, which was the result of extremely heavy winter rainfall, saw the Lake Elsinore hillside completely covered in bright orange poppies. Thousands of tourists flocked to the area to take photos among the blooms

Authorities in the city of Lake Elsinore closed access to Walker Canyon on Sunday after 'Disneyland size crowds' flocked to the area and caused huge traffic jams on nearby highways

Residents of the small town experienced difficulty getting to and from their homes at the weekend due to widespread road closures and traffic congestion caused by visitors

A couple is pictured posing among the flowers as thousands of people flocked to the area for a glimpse of the super bloom

Instagram was filled with super bloom photos of people posing among the flowers

One of the main concerns from city officials was people leaving the trails and trampling the wild flowers

The super bloom is the result of extremely heavy winter rainfall that saw the hillside covered in bright orange poppies

Tourists have been flocking to the area for several weeks to see the super bloom but authorities were forced to shut off access on Sunday

Residents of the small town experienced difficulty getting to and from their homes due to widespread road closures.

Lake Elsinore Mayor Steve Manos said in the chaos over the weekend, one city employee was hit by a car and a visitor suffered a snake bite.

The city had initially put measures in place, including free shuttle buses, to try and ease the congestion.

Officials posted a photo of a flyer on Sunday that read: 'No more shuttles or Entrance' and 'No Viewing or Visiting.'

It also featured hashtags including: '#PoppyNightmare' and '#IsItOver.'

The super bloom was originally met with excitement in the community of 66,000 but problems quickly arose this weekend, including traffic and people leaving trails and trampling the flowers

Tens of thousands of tourists have been spotted posing for pictures among the scores of flowers over the last month

Official said on Sunday that they had been experiencing issues with people leaving trails and trampling the flowers

Poppy fields are blooming on the slopes of Walker Canyon near Lake Elsinore after heavy rains in California boosted the growth of wild desert flowers

The super bloom was brought about by heavy rains in California that boosted the growth of wild desert flowers

A man photographs a woman painting a super bloom of wild poppies blanketing the hills of Walker Canyon

A woman and a child were spotted sitting among the poppies earlier this month when the super bloom first occurred