Although the calendar says it’s winter, the Washington area weather feels more like spring. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that D.C.’s 100th anniversary cherry blossom bloom is expected to come early this year. “My forecast [for the peak bloom] is sometime between March 24 and March 31,” the National Park Service’s chief horticulturist Rob DeFeo said at a packed news conference Thursday morning.
DeFeo said that the unnaturally warm weather coupled with moist ground guided his early prediction. The average peak date, when 70 percent of the blossoms around the Tidal Basin are open, falls on April 4.
| Festival highlights |
| > Pop star Sara Bareilles will perform at the opening ceremony on March 25 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center |
| > Fireworks show on the southwest waterfront on April 7 |
| > Parade and the Japan-American Society of D.C.’s street festival on April 14 |
| > Series of jazz performances at the Jefferson Memorial from April 19-22 |
| For a full schedule of National Cherry Blossom Festival happenings, go online to nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/. |
“I’ve been wrong three times because they bloomed early,” DeFeo said. “That’s why I’m going early this year.”
But an early bloom could mean an early end for the blossoms, though. The warmer the weather, the shorter the bloom, DeFeo said. He’ll narrow his prediction down to one or two days as March 24 approaches, he said.
The centennial celebration kicks off on March 20 and runs until April 27.
So let the scramble begin. Hundreds of thousands of tourists will scramble to book hotels around the time the pink and white blooms are expected to peak. Hotels will scramble to squeeze them all in. Restaurant owners will gear up to serve the hungry, incoming throngs and retailers will stock their windows to suck visitors in. All in all, more than 1 million tourists and residents are expected to take part in the celebration.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival is extended to five-weeks long this year. Last year’s two-week celebration generated $126 million of revenue in the city, Mayor Vincent Gray said Thursday.
“Yes we take checks, we take credit cards, we’ll even take an IOU,” Gray joked.
To mark the centennial, the Japanese and U.S. governments have designated the festival an official anniversary event. Both countries designed an exclusive commemorative stamp for the occasion to be handed out during the traditional Family Days events at the National Building Museum on March 24-25.
