Here come D.C.’s cherry blossoms, as indicator tree shows

A recent spate of warm weather in the District of Columbia has one sign of spring — the indicator tree for cherry blossoms — budding early.

The indicator tree, located east of the Jefferson Memorial, is so named because it has a history of blossoming a week to 10 days before the rest of the Tidal Basin cherry trees. 

The tree has begun to show buds, around 10 days earlier than it did in 2022, National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst told Fox 5.

Still, Mr. Litterst warned that predicting the date when 70% of the cherry trees show blossoms, also known as peak bloom, would be difficult this far out. 

The historical average date for peak bloom is April 3. 

“I think it’s reasonable to presume peak bloom will be earlier than the average historic date,” Mr. Litterst told WTOP-FM, continuing that “there’s another six weeks or so of winter to go before we would be looking for peak bloom, so things can change.”

The official start of spring is over a month away, and late winter in the area can have frosts that kill blooms, as occurred from March 14-16, 2017. 

The timing between the phases of the cherry trees’ bloom process is also irregular. In 2022, buds appeared on March 3 and developed into visible florets by March 7. In 2008, green buds appeared on Feb. 19, but florets were not visible until almost a month later on March 11, according to the NPS.