Apparently there was a mass migration of painted ladies because abundant rain caused abundant vegetation in the desert, food for the butterflies.
In the middle of a butterfly crisis, California sees a burst of painted ladies.
Those black-and-orange insects that seem to be everywhere you look in Southern California aren’t monarchs and they aren’t moths. They are called painted ladies, and these butterflies are migrating by the millions across the state.
source and full story:
latimes.com