Cherry Blossom Watch Update: March 14, 2020
The cherry blossoms are racing toward the puffy white stage, and some are beginning to pop. As you walk around the Tidal Basin, it’s easy to find some flowers out now.
The latest information on Washington DC’s cherry blossoms, including peak bloom forecasts and photos of how the trees look.
The cherry blossoms are racing toward the puffy white stage, and some are beginning to pop. As you walk around the Tidal Basin, it’s easy to find some flowers out now.
The warm temperatures are still speeding things along. The NPS determined that 70 percent of the trees were in the “Peduncle Elongation” stage as of yesterday. Warm temperatures today will give them another jolt of energy before a cooler weekend.
The National Park Service has revised their 2020 cherry blossom peak bloom forecast. They now predict that they’ll reach peak bloom sometime between March 21 and 24.
Warm temperatures into the 70s are encouraging a cracking pace. If you look closely, you can see petals starting to show through the buds on many trees now.
The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang has revised their peak bloom prediction, bringing it forward five days. Their new prediction is that the cherry blossoms will reach peak bloom sometime between March 20 and 24.
The indicator tree, Weeping cherry blossoms, and saucer magnolias are in full bloom. And the Yoshinos have reached the extension of florets stage.
After a cooler few days, we’re back into the unseasonably warm weather for the coming week. That’s going to speed things along. The indicator tree is starting to flower. And the saucer magnolias at the Enid A. Haupt Garden behind the Smithsonian Castle are coming into full bloom.
At a press conference this morning, the National Park Service revealed their initial peak bloom prediction for 2020.
The indicator tree is just starting to flower, the saucer magnolias are starting, and peak bloom forecasts are coming out.
The Capital Weather Gang from the Washington Post announced their prediction of a peak bloom between March 25 and March 29.
It’s a beautifully clear and cool morning down at the Tidal Basin. The National Park Service said that the cherry trees had reached the green buds stage as of February 28. Stay tuned on Wednesday for the National Park Service’s announcement of their initial peak bloom prediction.
There are plenty of green buds now, and all indications are still pointing to an early bloom. The NPS will be revealing their peak bloom prediction next week.
There are some early green buds starting to poke through on some of the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin, the area’s daffodils are coming out, as are some of the apricot blossoms and other early-spring flowering fruit trees.
Welcome to the 2020 DC Cherry Blossom Watch! It’s a cold and crisp morning, a sharp break from the warm and rainy weather we’ve had lately.
The Kwanzan cherry blossoms are coming into bloom. There are plenty around town that are in full bloom now. The ones in east Potomac Park aren’t quite there yet, but they’re close.
Here are some more of the beautiful photos of 2019’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is the final installment.
The cherry blossoms are mostly done now. You can still find flowers out, but they’re fading fast. The good news, though, is that the warm temperatures of the past few days have helped push the Kwanzan cherry blossoms along.
Here are some more of the beautiful photos of 2019’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 3.
These are some of the beautiful photos of 2019’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 2–more to come.
These are some of the beautiful photos of 2019’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 1–more to come.
The cherry blossoms are still looking pretty, especially from a distance, but up close it’s becoming easier to tell that they’re past their prime. There are fewer petals on the trees, more petals on the ground, and more green leaves sprouting.
The cherry blossoms are still looking lovely. They didn’t get through yesterday’s rain entirely unscathed–it did knock some petals off, and you can see plenty of cherry blossom “snow” on the ground. But from a distance it’s hard to tell.
The rain we’ve been seeing today so far has only made a small dent, but it is making a dent.
The cherry blossoms are still looking great, and while some of them are starting to look a bit fragile, very few petals have been blown off so far.
Light rain showers yesterday through the late afternoon and evening had no real effect on the trees, and they’re going strong and looking wonderful.
The cherry blossoms are going strong and looking stunning. If you look very closely at the flowers you can see that some are starting to go pink in the middle.
The arborists at the National Park Service have judged that the famous cherry blossoms reached peak bloom today, April 1. That’s in line with their revised prediction. And it’s right around the historical average.
It’s a very pretty morning down at the Tidal Basin. Cool and breezy, but sparklingly clear. And the cherry blossoms are looking magnificent.
The cherry blossoms are in full bloom now. They’re white and fluffy and billowing. This morning’s weather isn’t the ideal setting to showcase the blossoms, but it’s still a beautiful sight.
The cherry blossoms are coming into full bloom, although there’s still plenty of flowers yet to open. More and more will open up over the next few days. If you head down this weekend you won’t be disappointed.
The cherry blossoms are really starting to come along now. They’re not in full bloom yet, but many trees are starting to flower. Warm temperatures today and tomorrow will make them pop.
There’s now no difficulty finding flowers out. Many of the trees have at least some flowers opening; some trees have many. The warmer temperatures on Friday and Saturday will make them really start popping.
Many of the trees are in the puffy white stage now, and you can clearly see the white petals coming through. And more trees have at least a few flowers opening on them now, although it’s still only a tiny portion of the flowers that will be coming out over the next several days.
The original peak bloom prediction was April 3-6, but warmer temperatures in the past week, along with warm temperatures anticipated over the coming weekend, have pushed the development ahead.
The warmer temperatures of the past couple of days have given the cherry blossoms another little prod, and many trees are closing in on the puffy white stage.
The cool temperatures have kept the pace quite slow, but the cherry trees are making progress toward the bloom. It is technically possible to find some early blossoms out, but it’s only the tiniest fraction of them and you really have to go hunting for them.
The National Park Service has judged that the trees have reached the “florets visible” stage. Many of the trees are beyond that, and from a distance you can see that the trees are getting a reddish-brown tinge as the bud development progresses.
What a difference a couple of very warm days makes! We’ve seen temperatures climb into the upper 70s, and that gave the cherry blossoms quite a jolt. The indicator tree now has its first flowers open.
The buds on the cherry trees are making slow but steady progress. They still have some work to do, and they’re still quite far behind where they were this time last year, but a couple of very warm days today and tomorrow will help move things along a little.
We’re coming out of a cold spell and turning the corner into a milder stretch. The buds are coming along nicely, with most trees now with green buds and some heading into the “florets visible” stage.
The National Park Service has issued their initial peak bloom prediction for the 2019 bloom.
It doesn’t feel much like spring–while sunny, it’s cold and breezy–but more green buds are coming out.
The Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang has issued their initial peak bloom prediction of the season. They predict that peak bloom will fall sometime “between April 1 and 5, centered on the 3rd.”
There’s not much to see on the trees yet. Temperatures for February continue to average a few degrees above normal. And the National Park Service will be announcing their initial peak bloom prediction at a press conference on March 6.
The cherry blossom buds are still wrapped tight for winter, but there are some other scattered signs of spring. Some of the earliest apricot blossoms and other flowering fruit trees are just starting to show some flowers.
Despite some attention-grabbing cold blasts in recent weeks, the temperatures so far this winter have continued to average warmer-than-normal overall. But there’s still not much to see on the trees.
Winter finally arrived, with a snowstorm that dumped around 10 inches of snow. But so far, temperatures have averaged warmer than normal.
The Kwanzan cherry blossoms near the Tidal Basin and East Potomac Park are now coming into full bloom.
The cherry blossoms are essentially done now. You can still find some flowers on the trees, but the trees are leafing out.
These are some of the beautiful photos of 2018’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 4.
The cherry blossom snow is coming down more steadily now as petals get knocked off in the breeze. The trees aren’t looking as white and fluffy as they had been, especially up close, but as of late this morning they were still looking pretty.
These are some of the beautiful photos of 2018’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 1–more to come.
A week after peak bloom the cherry blossoms are still looking very pretty, but if you look up close you can clearly see that they’re past their prime now. More petals have been coming off, and more green leaves are poking through.
Petals are starting to come off, but for now it’s a very gentle pace. The cold weather has slowed development down and kept the green leaves at bay. So the cherry blossoms are still holding up well and looking beautiful.
These are some of the beautiful photos of 2018’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 1–more to come.
The cherry blossoms are still going strong and looking lovely. Some light showers overnight didn’t have much effect, and the petals are coming off only very slowly for now.
These are some of the beautiful photos of 2018’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 1–more to come.
The cherry blossoms are still holding up well and looking beautiful. You have to look closely to see that they’re moving past their prime.
Despite a chilly breeze, this morning at the Tidal Basin is quite spectacular, and the cherry blossoms are looking fluffy and full and magnificent. It’s a prime viewing day.
The snow and rain have mostly been no-shows. It’s cold and breezy, but the trees are doing just fine.
The weather is dull and kind of dreary, but the trees are still looking beautiful.
The NPS determined that the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin reached peak bloom today, April 5. Peak bloom is a threshold when 70 percent of the Yoshino cherry blossoms are blooming.
The rain and wind yesterday barely grazed the cherry blossoms, and they’re currently in their prime.
The cherry blossoms are in full bloom now. While not every tree is fully out, most are. They’re on track for peak bloom in the coming days, and the National Park Service yesterday tweaked their peak bloom prediction again, bringing it forward to Thursday through Sunday (April 5-8).
The blossoms themselves are shaping up nicely for later in the week. Many of them are in full bloom now, although there are still some holdouts that haven’t started properly yet.
Sunny and warm conditions through the weekend brought more flowers out, and they’re looking lovely as they move into full bloom. It now looks increasingly likely that peak bloom will come ahead of the predicted dates.
If you head down to the Tidal Basin this weekend you won’t have any trouble whatsoever finding cherry blossoms out. The warm weather of the past few days has worked its magic in bringing more flowers out.
It’s now getting much easier to find at least a few blossoms coming out. Quite a few of the trees are starting to show a few flowers each, and while it’s still only a tiny proportion of the total, they’re easy to find all the way around the Tidal Basin.
The slow trickle continues. It’s becoming a little easier to find some scattered flowers out this morning, but most of them aren’t there yet. But if milder temperatures arrive later in the week, as expected, it will inject some energy into their progress.
Both the National Park Service and the *Washington Post*’s Capital Weather today revised their peak bloom predictions, pushing them back even further. Both are now predicting April 8 to 12.
Ever so slowly we’re starting to see some movement. The snow has gone, and there are more flowers just gradually starting to peek out.
It has been snowing steadily, and there’s a layer of wet, slushy snow around the Tidal Basin. But it’s not a threat to the cherry blossoms.
There’s not much new on the trees since yesterday, but I’ve been getting a lot of questions about things like how this week’s weather forecast will affect things and how this coming weekend is shaping up. So I’m focusing below mostly on answering some of the most common questions.
It’s shaping up as a sparkling spring day, but unfortunately there aren’t many cherry blossoms to see yet.
Progress has been brought to a crawl by the cool temperatures. If you look very closely, they are making headway, but it’s very, very slow.
There’s been steady progress, but with the continuing cool temperatures it has been slow. There are some flowers starting to come out on the so-called indicator tree, but it’s not yet in full bloom. The vast majority still have some work to do before they’re getting really close to blooming.
There’s been some progress, but it’s at a gentle pace in these cool temperatures. The indicator tree is just starting to show some puffy white blossoms that are ready to pop.
The buds are still doing their thing and still have a way to go before blooming. There’s some unsettled weather coming up over the next week or so, but it shouldn’t pose too many problems for the cherry trees.
The cherry trees around the Tidal Basin have emerged mostly unscathed from the very strong winds we saw yesterday.
The experts at the National Park Service has issued their initial peak bloom prediction for 2018: March 17-20.
Around the Tidal Basin, the buds are clearly making progress. And, as usual, the so-called indicator tree is marching ahead of the others. It’s typically a week to 10 days ahead. Stay tuned for the National Park Service peak bloom prediction to be issued later this morning.
The National Park Service determined that 70 percent of the buds had reached the “Green Buds” stage on February 25. That is just a day later than last year and is earlier than the average.
It has been soggy and foggy but still warmer than average. More of the green buds are starting to come through now.
The green buds are just starting to poke through, and unusually warm weather is coaxing out some of the area’s other early blooming flowers.
There’s not much to see on the trees yet, but things will start picking up in coming weeks. The National Park Service will be announcing their peak bloom prediction on March 1.
The short version is that there’s still not much to report. The cherry trees are still in their winter mode and aren’t showing any signs of the buds developing yet. No peak bloom forecasts have been issued yet. Expect those to start coming in about 4 to 5 weeks.
The first update in the 2018 Cherry Blossom Watch! For now, the Tidal Basin is covered in ice and there’s nothing to see in terms of bud development. It’s still too early to have any real idea of when the cherry blossoms will reach peak bloom in 2018, but here’s a rundown of where things stand.
The Kwanzan cherry blossoms are coming into full bloom now and looking lovely.
This is the final installment of reader photos for this year. Thanks to all who shared their beautiful photos!
Here are some great photos of 2017’s bloom of the cherry blossoms that were submitted by Cherry Blossom Watch readers. This is part 1.
The Kwanzan cherry blossoms are close to blooming, and warm temperatures in coming days will coax more and more of them out over the next couple of weeks.
The cherry blossoms are on their last legs now, but there are still some holdouts with plenty of flowers.
The cherry blossoms are past their prime now and well on their way out. The persistent rain is knocking a lot of petals off, but there are still plenty of petals left on the trees.
They’re still going strong, and with the sun finally coming out it’s a gorgeous spring day at the Tidal Basin.
Now that we’re at three days after the peak bloom day, the cherry blossoms are turning pink and still looking great, but they’re also becoming fragile. The rain is knocking petals off and blanketing the ground with cherry blossom snow.
The cherry blossoms reached peak bloom yesterday. As expected, the bloom this year is a little more subdued than usual simply because it’s firing with only half its usual firepower. Despite that, though, they’re putting on a beautiful show. Over the next few days the blossoms will gradually go from white to a pale pink.
The Kwanzans are now showing green buds, the first of the visible development stages. Warm weather over coming weeks will wake them up and speed things up a bit.
The NPS said this afternoon that the cherry blossoms reached peak bloom today, March 25. Peak bloom is when at least 70 percent of the blossoms are open.