On the 100^th anniversary of our nation’s annual celebration of nature, the event is hotter than ever.

In 1912, the people of Japan sent more than 3000 Yoshino cherry trees to Washington, DC as a gift of friendship.  First Lady Taft and Viscountess Chinda, the wife of the Japanese Ambassador, helped plant the first two trees near the John Paul Jones monument at the south end of 17^th Street, where they stand to this day.  The rest of the trees were planted all along the Potomac tidal basin.

The annual flowering of the Japanese cherries quickly became a national sensation.  A one-day festival soon grew to three days.  In 1934, the first “Blossom Queen” was crowned.  When World War II broke out, the festival was suspended, and for the next four years the trees were referred to as “oriental cherries.”  But the festival resumed in 1947, and a record half million people came out to see the show.  In 1957, the Mikimoto Company donated a crown for the Blossom Queen; studded with 1,585 pearls, it is so valuable that the Queen can only wear it briefly to have her official picture taken.  By the 1990’s the festival had grown to become a multi-faceted two-week celebration.  Today, it’s over a month long.

And when, exactly, is the festival held?  It varies every year, depending on the timing of the blooming period, which lasts about two weeks.  Each year, the chief horticulturalist for the National Park Service predicts when the trees will be in maximum bloom (when approximately 70% of the flowers are open).  Usually this happens around April 4^th, and this year’s festival was slated accordingly, to begin on March 20.  But this year nature threw us a very hot curveball.  Last week, temperatures in Washington spiked almost 30 degrees above normal, sending the cherries into a blossoming binge.  They will reach their color peak right about – um, hold on!, they already peaked THREE DAYS AGO, on the opening day of the Festival!!  The blossoms will probably be finished before April arrives, leaving the National Cherry Blossom Festival without its star attraction for most of its run.

It’s one of the earliest blooms on record, and striking evidence of a warming planet.  As the global warming debate rages on Capitol Hill, our leaders have a colorful new data point to consider.

Hey Congress, take a look out the window.