Harry Stevens: 2 weeks ago, we started photographing cherry trees by DC's Tidal Basin, thinking we had lots of time to capture the buds gradually unfold. Instead, we wound up capturing the 2nd earliest peak bloom on record. New Climate Lab column w/ @niko_tinius: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

2 weeks ago, we started photographing cherry trees by DC's Tidal Basin, thinking we had lots of time to capture the buds gradually unfold. Instead, we wound up capturing the 2nd earliest peak bloom on record. New Climate Lab column w/ @niko_tinius: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

One cherry tree’s rush to bloomwww.washingtonpost.com Watch a cherry tree bloom over 10 days, and find out how climate change is propelling D.C.’s famous trees to hit peak earlier.

Repeatedly high temperatures drove the cherry trees to an early bloom. DC has been abnormally warm this year. Jan. 26 was the hottest January day on record, and 65 of the 77 days leading up to peak bloom were hotter than the 1951-1980 daily average. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

It wasn't just this year. We compared long-term trends in peak bloom dates with the temperature in DC at the start of each year. The trend lines are about the same. Temperature drives plants’ seasonal cycles. As temperatures rise, seasons will shift. www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

As always, the code to produce our datasets and create our charts is on Observable. The anomaly chart is here: observablehq.com/@climatelab/... The comparison of peak bloom and temperature is here: observablehq.com/@climatelab/...

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