Travel

[sunshine45]

just a note.......if anyone is planning on coming to DC to see the peak blooms for the cherry blossom festival, it will be delayed due to cold weather.

"The National Park Service is pushing back the projected peak bloom of the cherry blossoms for 2018 by a full week thanks to recent temperature data. NPS is now predicting the peak bloom period will happen March 27-31 instead of March 17-20, the service said in a statement."

https://patch.com/district-columbia/washingtondc/dc-cherry-blossom-alert-major-delay-2018-bloom

[Eileen in Virginia]

On a related note, DO NOT DRIVE your car downtown while you’re sightseeing. Traffic will be beyond crazy and there will be fewer parking spots than usual. The parking signs in DC are so confusing that you’re practically guaranteed to get a ticket or towed (or both). Instead, take Metro, the Circulator, a taxi or Uber, your hotel shuttle or walk if you’re staying in DC. There are also some local tour buses that are reasonably priced. The cherry trees are beautiful when they’re blooming, so make sure your camera’s fully charged so you don’t miss any good shots. Enjoy!

[Allegheny]

@Eileen in Virginia You are absolutely correct.  Our nephew lived in Arlington and knew the area very well.  While visiting he drove us to see the cherry trees.  It was on the day of the festival parade.  Needless to say, we all agreed to turn around and head back to his home.  We returned two days later during a workday via the Metro and it was still very crowded.  But it is an experience (the beauty) that I will never forget.

[AuntG]

Didn't it just snow on the blossoms?

[sunshine45]

An early-spring snowstorm dumping as much as half a foot on Washington on Wednesday upended work schedules, restaurants, and transportation. But the National Park Service says it doesn’t expect the storm to have much of an impact on the cherry trees around the Tidal Basin.

While a coating of wet and heavy snow is unusual for late March, the cherry blossoms are not far along enough in their development for the storm to ruin the arrival of peak bloom, defined as when more than 70 percent of the nearly 3,000 Yoshino cherry trees on the Tidal Basin are blossoming. The trees are still expected to peak between March 27 and March 31, NPS spokesman Mike Litterst says.

“The snow itself is not a threat at this stage of the bloom cycle,” Litterst tells Washingtonian. “Of greater concern are temperatures well below freezing…and then only if the blossoms are starting to come out.”

https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/03/21/spring-snowstorm-not-expected-to-harm-cherry-blossoms-park-...