National Park Service Announces Dates To See Cherry Blossoms At Their Peak

The arrival of cherry blossoms is one of the best (and most beautiful!) signs that winter is finally over and spring and warmer days are here. One of the best places to see that glorious display from Mother Nature is around the Tidal Basin in our nation’s capitol, where cherry trees were planted after Japan gifted them to the U.S. in 1912.

If you’re planning a trip to Washington, D.C. to see the cherry blossoms this year, you may want to aim for the end of March.

The National Park Service has just announced that it predicts those gorgeous blooms will peak between March 22-25. Peak bloom is defined as the point when 70 percent of the blossoms along the Tidal Basin have flowered, The Washington Post reports.

Before you book your trip, there may be a few more days to see the flowers at their peak. The Post’s own weather team, based in D.C., estimate the flowers will reach their peak bloom between March 25 and 29.

Why the difference in predictions? “[E]merging from the third-warmest winter on the record, this has been a particularly challenging year to read the trees and the project peak bloom,” Jeff Reinbold, Superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, told the Post. “Our natural resource manager likened the trees this year, our indicator tree, to a teenager. There’s a lot going on.” 

To cover their bases, the National Cherry Blossom Festival will kick off on March 20 with the opening ceremony slated for March 25. The fun will last until April 16 with more than 30 events, including a kite festival and a parade.