Peak Bloom Predictions Revised Again

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.

Photo of Washington DC Cherry Blossoms.
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The cherry blossoms reached peak bloom on March 17, 2024. That's the second-earliest on record.

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Peak Bloom Forecasts in Detail

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.

While February was warmer than normal and got the buds off to an early start, it has been cool weather since, and so far in March we’re about 3.5° below average. That has kept things moving at a glacial pace. And after crunching their weather forecast data looking ahead, both the NPS and Post have concluded that it’s just not going to be warm enough in the next couple of weeks to bring most of the trees to full bloom.

As you can see from the photos below, all taken this morning, the trees are at quite a range of stages. While the indicator tree is in full bloom and there’s a small handful of scattered trees that are starting to show some flowers, the vast majority are still in earlier bud stages. So it’s likely to be a rather drawn out blooming process, with some trees blooming well ahead of others.

Here are some examples with photos taken this morning around the Tidal Basin.

DC Cherry Blossom Watch Update: March 23, 2018

DC Cherry Blossom Watch Update: March 23, 2018

DC Cherry Blossom Watch Update: March 23, 2018
These are on one of the old Yoshinos a few trees to the east of the MLK Memorial statue.

DC Cherry Blossom Watch Update: March 23, 2018

DC Cherry Blossom Watch Update: March 23, 2018

You can find more photos from this morning here.