Community Connection: Cherry Blossom Bloom Dates in Washington, D.C.

Ecosystems
Temperature
How the peak bloom date of Washington, D.C.’s Yoshino cherry trees has changed since 1921, alongside the dates of the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

This feature tracks the annual peak bloom date of Washington, D.C.’s famous cherry trees.

Figures

Figure 1. Peak Bloom Date for Cherry Trees Around Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin, 1921-2024

Data source: National Park Service, 2024; National Cherry Blossom Festival, 2024
Web update: June 2024

Figure data (CSV) EPA source data (CSV)

Figure 1

This figure shows the timing of peak bloom each year for the main type of cherry tree around the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. The peak bloom date occurs when 70 percent of the blossoms are in full bloom. The shaded band shows the timing of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival. The festival began in 1934 but was not held during World War II.

Show the data behind this figure
Year Yoshino peak bloom date (days from January 1) Festival start date (days from January 1) Festival duration (days)
1921 79 NA NA
1922 97 NA NA
1923 99 NA NA
1924 104 NA NA
1925 86 NA NA
1926 101 NA NA
1927 79 NA NA
1928 99 NA NA
1929 90 NA NA
1930 91 NA NA
1931 101 NA NA
1932 106 NA NA
1933 99 NA NA
1934 105 109 2
1935 91 93 1
1936 98 99 1
1937 104 100 1
1938 84 85 1
1939 89 90 1
1940 104 104 1
1941 102 102 1
1942 95 NA NA
1943 94 NA NA
1944 100 NA NA
1945 79 NA NA
1946 82 NA NA
1947 102 102 1
1948 88 101 1
1949 88 92 1
1950 99 98 1
1951 96 97 1
1952 100 96 1
1953 86 101 1
1954 96 93 1
1955 92 92 1
1956 97 98 1
1957 98 96 1
1958 108 88 1
1959 96 97 5
1960 105 96 5
1961 92 94 5
1962 97 93 5
1963 93 92 5
1964 102 98 5
1965 105 96 5
1966 95 102 5
1967 96 94 5
1968 90 92 6
1969 99 98 5
1970 106 97 5
1971 98 89 5
1972 102 94 5
1973 101 96 7
1974 93 89 6
1975 93 90 5
1976 83 96 5
1977 85 87 5
1978 102 93 5
1979 92 92 5
1980 97 84 5
1981 93 89 5
1982 97 87 6
1983 97 94 6
1984 94 92 6
1985 97 97 6
1986 92 96 6
1987 87 95 6
1988 91 94 7
1989 88 92 7
1990 74 91 7
1991 88 90 7
1992 98 96 7
1993 101 87 7
1994 95 93 7
1995 92 85 14
1996 95 91 14
1997 85 89 14
1998 86 88 14
1999 95 87 14
2000 77 86 14
2001 96 84 14
2002 92 82 16
2003 92 81 16
2004 91 87 15
2005 99 85 15
2006 89 84 15
2007 91 90 15
2008 86 89 15
2009 91 87 15
2010 90 86 15
2011 88 85 15
2012 80 80 38
2013 99 79 25
2014 100 79 24
2015 100 79 23
2016 85 80 28
2017 84 79 27
2018 95 79 26
2019 91 79 24
2020 80 80 23
2021 87 79 22
2022 80 79 28
2023 82 77 29
2024 77 80 25
Figure 2

Key Points

  • Based on the entire 104 years of data, the average peak bloom date for Washington’s cherry blossoms is April 3.
  • Peak bloom date for the cherry trees is occurring earlier than it did in the past. Since 1921, peak bloom dates have shifted earlier by approximately eight days. The peak bloom date has occurred before April 3 in 15 of the past 20 years.
  • While the length of the National Cherry Blossom Festival has expanded over time, the cherry trees have bloomed near the beginning of the festival in recent years. During some years, like 2024, the festival missed early peak bloom dates entirely.

Background

In Washington, D.C., the arrival of spring brings a splash of color as the city’s iconic cherry trees burst into bloom. The city has enjoyed cherry blossoms each year dating back to 1912, when Japan gave about 3,000 cherry trees to the United States as a gift of friendship. These trees surround Washington’s Tidal Basin, and the beautiful blooms set against the backdrop of the national monuments bring more than 1.5 million visitors to the area every year during the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Not surprisingly, the festival is planned to coincide with the peak bloom of the cherry trees.

The exact timing of peak bloom varies from year to year, and it is largely driven by local temperatures during the winter and early spring. Many plants are sensitive to and respond to environmental cues such as when temperature reaches a certain threshold. As the Leaf and Bloom Dates indicator explains, scientists have very high confidence that recent warming trends in global climate are causing spring events such as leaf growth and flower blooms to happen earlier.1 In the case of Washington’s cherry blossoms, earlier bloom dates could affect tourism and the local economy.

The peak bloom date for the most common type of cherry tree around Washington’s Tidal Basin—the Yoshino variety—has been carefully estimated and recorded since 1921 by the National Park Service. The peak bloom date is defined as the day when 70 percent of the blossoms are in full bloom.

Figure 1 shows how the peak bloom date of the Yoshino cherry trees has changed since 1921. It also shows the dates of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which has grown to several weeks as its popularity has expanded. There is considerable variability in the peak bloom date, which makes predicting the exact timing difficult. Anticipation of the peak bloom captivates meteorologists, city planners, the National Park Service, residents, and tourists each year.

For this and other examples of community connections to observed climate-related changes, see the StoryMap at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ebd8dcbb0b6048cd81caa6eb450b8974.

About the Data

Notes

In addition to winter and early spring temperatures, the timing of the peak bloom for cherry trees can be affected by other weather, climate, and location factors. For example, extended growing periods and warmer autumns could affect bloom dates by altering other stages of cherry tree growth.4

Data Sources

Peak bloom dates and festival dates were provided by the National Park Service and organizers of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Bloom dates and other information about Washington’s cherry trees can be found online at: https://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org and: www.nps.gov/subjects/cherryblossom/index.htm.

Technical Documentation

References

  1. IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). (2022). Climate change 2022—Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability: Working Group II contribution to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (H.-O. Pörtner, D. C. Roberts, M. Tignor, E. S. Poloczanska, K. Mintenbeck, A. Alegría, M. Craig, S. Langsdorf, S. Löschke, V. Möller, A. Okem, & B. Rama, Eds.). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009325844
  2. National Cherry Blossom Festival. (2024). Bloom watch. Retrieved March 21, 2024, from https://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/bloom-watch
  3. National Park Service. (2024). Bloom watch. Retrieved March 21, 2024, from www.nps.gov/subjects/cherryblossom/bloom-watch.htm
  4. Chung, U., Mack, L., Yun, J. I., & Kim, S.-H. (2011). Predicting the timing of cherry blossoms in Washington, DC and Mid-Atlantic states in response to climate change. PLoS ONE, 6(11), e27439. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0027439

Text on this page is EPA’s own published wording (a U.S. Government work, not subject to domestic copyright), extracted from EPA’s published indicator page and verified paragraph by paragraph against the archived HTML. Data, chart code, and the full extraction pipeline are maintained in the cherry-blossom-bloom repository, which this page reads its data from directly.

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