DC’s cherry blossoms coming early due to confusing weather

WASHINGTON — The cherry trees in the nation’s capital are confused by Earth’s changing climate, with the iconic blossoms appearing earlier than expected because of the unusually warm winter.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and the National Park Service announced Wednesday that Washington’s 3,700 cherry blossom trees would reach peak bloom this year from March 22-25. That’s several days earlier than observers and experts had expected.

“This has been a challenging year to read the trees,” said Jeff Reinbold, NPS superintendent for the national mall and memorial parks. One of the warmest winters on record, plus dramatic fluctuations in temperature have essentially sent confusing signals to the trees.

The district’s winter featured dramatic temperature shifts, including a week in February where it hit 81 degrees one day and briefly snowed two days later. The end results, Reinbold said, are trees that he compared to a hormonal teenager. “There’s a lot going on in there,” he said. The early bloom, by itself, isn’t a huge problem, unless the temperatures drop suddenly again now that the vulnerable blossoms are emerging. “An early frost would definitely damage the blossoms,” Reinbold said.

Cherry Blossom Festival President Diana Mayhew said this year’s bloom dates aren’t unprecedented, but they’re the second earliest she had witnessed in 23 years with the organization. As a result, her organization has accelerated their own timetable, moving up multiple events planned at the

Tidal Basin by a week.

Mayhew said she and city officials are expecting a boom year for the festival, which typically signals the unofficial start of D.C.’s tourist season. The 2020 cherry blossom season was essentially wrecked in real time by the creeping shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, which was moving across the country just as the festival was holding press conferences to announce that year’s peak bloom. Organizers finally were forced to cancel most in-person events.

Washington’s cherry blossoms date back 111 years to an original 1912 gift of 3,000 trees from the mayor of Tokyo. The Japanese embassy has remained deeply involved in their maintenance and in the annual festival — organizing a host of cherry blossom-themed events and performances.

Koichi Ai, head of chancery for the Japanese Embassy, said Wednesday that the trees hold “special status” within Japanese culture. Their brief but spectacular bloom cycle represents, “the transient nature of beauty and the everlasting cycle of life,” he said.