It’s peak bloom time in Washington, the period when more than 70 percent of the flowers on the Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin are at their most fulsome.
PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM! PEAK BLOOM!
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸!
Learn more & plan your visit: https://t.co/h04Gu0ksc1 #CherryBlossom #BloomWatch #WashingtonDC pic.twitter.com/DzRjKUR5tI— National Mall NPS (@NationalMallNPS) March 21, 2022
Tuesday’s weather is splendid, but showers loom in the forecast Wednesday and Thursday. This doesn’t mean you have to drop everything and head down to the Tidal Basin, says National Park Service spokesperson Mike Litterst: “We’re so early in peak bloom that the blossoms are still relatively strong and the petals are still holding on tight,” he says.
High winds and heavy rain are much more dangerous for the blossoms, Litterst says. And the dip in temperatures that also approaches means peak bloom may persist well into next week: cooler air “will slow the movement of the trees from blossoms to leaves, so we should get a week to 10 days out of the blossoms,” Litterst says.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
