The National Park Service announced cherry blossom peak bloom predictions for 2015.
By Erica Moody
National Cherry Blossom Festival goodwill ambassadors Taylor Brown, Sora Choi, Wenting Ma, Isabel Moua, Zachary Schneider, Taylor Haas, Christina Bui and Haruka Tanaka (Photo by Erica Moody)
The National Park Service has predicted that peak bloom for the cherry blossoms will be April 11-14 this year.
Karen Cucurullo with the envelope holding peak bloom predictions (Photo by Erica Moody)
National Mall and Memorial Parks’ acting superintendent Karen Cucurullo, who oversees 3,700 cherry blossom trees, made the announcement at the Newseum this week. Peak bloom is defined as the time that at least 70 percent of the blossoms of the Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin will be open.
This date changes year to year, with April 4 being the average day of peak bloom.
Cucurullo said the latest was April 18 back in the ’50s.
The festival begins March 20 and goes through April 12 and attracts 1.5 million visitors to Washington.
New programming this year includes the family-friendly Anacostia River Festival in Anacostia Park on April 12, a daytime event that will blend arts and recreational activities including canoeing, kayaking, bike riding and bird watching.
Visit the National Cherry Blossom Festival website for a full list of cherry blossom festivities.
