Fickle weather has once again changed D.C.'s cherry blossoms' predicted dates of peak bloom, the National Park Service announced Tuesday.
Blossoming Cherry Blossom trees frame the Jefferson Memorial in Washington. Residents and tourists have a former first lady to thank for this beautiful addition to the nation’s capital.
(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
AP Photo/Ron Edmonds
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 11: Cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin, April 11, 2015 in Washington, DC.
(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
WASHINGTON – APRIL 5: Rosario Ponte, of Alexandria, Virginia photographs the cherry tree blossoms that circle the Tidal Basin as the trees began to bloom April 5, 2005 in Washington. The National Cherry Blossom Festival — a celebration to commemorate the 1912 gift of 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees from Japan — will run until April 10. Originally from Venezuela, Ponte has been photographing the annual bloom for the past 30 years. She said it is her dream to be good enough to shoot photos for the National Geographic magazine.
(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Erin Leigh of Washington, center, and Diane Rusch, right, and B.K., left, both visiting from Pittsburgh, Pa., stop to photograph cherry blossoms in Washington, Tuesday, April 7, 2015. Officials are calling for a peak bloom period from April 11-14th.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
WASHINGTON, DC – APRIL 7: People cruise on paddle boats around the Tidal Basin where cherry trees are just beginning to bloom on April 7, 2013 in Washington, DC. The blossoms are late this year, a result of a cooler than average spring.
(Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)
Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images
Cherry blossoms in bloom in D.C. on April 7, 2013
(Courtesy of Anjan Pendem)
Courtesy of Anjan Pendem
Visitors admire cherry blossoms which begin blooming at Shinjuku Gyoen park in Tokyo, March 25, 2014.
(AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)
AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi
WASHINGTON – MARCH 31: People in a paddle boats pass by Cherry Blossom trees in the Tidal Basin March 31, 2006 in Washington, DC. The Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom and thousands of tourist are expected to visit the Tidal Basin this weekend.
(Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Once again, fickle weather has changed the predicted bloom dates for D.C.’s cherry blossoms. National Park Service officials are now saying that the best time to see the blossoms is on March 23 and March 24.
[related_gallery align=”right”]This timeframe is narrower than the March 18-March 23 prediction park officials gave last week. National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said Tuesday that colder temperatures were the reason for the shorter bloom window.
“It’s really like nothing else we do, trying to predict something that so many people are counting on,” Litterst said last week.
This year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, which marks the anniversary of Japan’s gift of 3,000 cherry trees, runs from March 20 through April 17. It’s one of D.C.’s biggest tourism events.
But peak bloom doesn’t always coincide with the festival’s dates. Peak bloom is when 70 percent of the trees around the Tidal Basin are in blossoming. Once in bloom, the flowers can last four to 10 days, depending on weather conditions.
Litterst says when the prediction is made more than a week in advance, it’s tricky to get it exactly right, especially as Mother Nature tends to change plans without warning in the spring.
The earliest the cherry blossoms have bloomed was on March 15 in 1990, Litterst says.
The revised peak bloom date is causing the park service to move up the opening of the Tidal Basin Welcome Area too. The area, located near the paddle boats at Maine Avenue SW and Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, will now be open from March 18 — April 3 (it was previously scheduled from April 2-17).
WTOP’s Sarah Beth Hensley and Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
