Two weeks ago, the fake news Washington Post predicted peak bloom on March 15.
we predict the cherry trees will reach peak bloom between March 15 and 19
Cherry blossom forecast: Peak bloom will be close to record-early this year – The Washington Post
It is March 14, the cherry trees are covered with snow and ice, and forecast low tonight is 20 degrees.
You would think that professional cherry pickers, like those at the Post, would be more familiar with their harvest of choice.
https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington-dc/articles/2017-03-14/officials-worried-about-impact-of-cold-on-dcs-cherry-trees?int=news-rec
It will be interesting to see what day the National Park Service decides to use for their official “peak” day particularly if there aren’t very many blooms. In this article, they predicted only a 10% probability of a March 25 or later date. However, the forecast is not helping the alarmist cause with 6 of the next 10 days not reaching 50 deg and only one above 55.
From that article … “Peak bloom is defined as the day when 70 percent of the Yoshino cherry trees around the city’s Tidal Basin are blossoming.”
It seems clear that the 70% point was not yet reached, or we would have already heard about an ‘early Peak bloom’. Due to the cold damaging some trees, the 70% point may not ever be reached this season. I wonder if National Park Service would be honest enough to say it was a year without ‘Peak bloom’ or if they would take the maximum percentage day and declare that to be ‘Peak bloom’.
I hope that enough trees are undamaged that we later DO get 70% or more blooming, although much later than anyone expected.
As you wrote …. “It will be interesting to see what day the National Park Service decides to use for their official “peak” day”
In either case, they’re prettier in pink than white.