As D.C.’s cherry blossoms inch closer to peak bloom along the Tidal Basin, the Trust for the National Mall said Thursday it’s bringing back its Bloom Cam.
The nonprofit, in partnership with the National Park Service and EarthCam, will once again provide a 24/7 live, real-time view of the more than 3,700 cherry trees as they blossom into an array of pinks and whites.
The live video stream of the Tidal Basin will be coming from the roof of the Mandarin Oriental and the camera will rotate views “approximately every 60 seconds.”
New this year is the Monument Cam, as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s Bloom Watch. The live video feed will give a birds-eye-view of the National Mall from the top of the Washington Monument.
There is also the Bud Cam, a highlight reel of the flowers from previous years that showcase their life cycle.
All of the cameras can be found a special Bloom Cam website.
While the blossoms signal the arrival of spring, they also symbolize “hope, renewal, peace, and friendship,” President and CEO of the Trust for the National Mall Catherine Townsend said in a news release.
The Trust said the goal of Bloom Cam is to build support and awareness for the long-term care and upkeep of the cherry trees, which due to “heavy foot traffic and the effects of the changing climate, rising sea level and daily flooding, the trees…need care and attention now more than ever.”
The Bloom Cam launched in 2020 during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, in an effort to avoid community spread. In that first year it gained viewership from nearly one million people across 160 countries.
Earlier on Thursday, the National Park Service said that the cherry blossoms were at stage four of six, called “peduncle elongation.” They are expected to reach peak bloom between March 22 and 25.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival will run from March 20 to April 16.
