Japanese Cherry Blossoms Record the History of Climate Change
For over 1,000 years, Japanese noblemen, monks and government officials have carefully recorded when cherry blossoms first bloom in Kyoto, Japan’s ancient capital. Cherry blossom viewing, or hanami, is celebrated in diaries, haiku and paintings and is mentioned in court records.
A cherry blossom haiku by Saigyo Hoshi, a 12th-century poet who became a Buddhist monk.
the spring wind / scattering blossoms / I saw it in a dream / but when I awoke the sound / was still rustling in my breast
Cherry trees, or sakura, that are currently blooming all over New York City, are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature. As the Earth has warmed do to the Industrial Revolution and the burning of fossil fuels, they bloom earlier and earlier. At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, because of climate change, the peak time for cherry blossoms shifted from the end of April and the beginning of May to late March or early April.
In order to achieve their peak beauty, cherry blossoms need both a period of winter cold to break dormancy followed by warmer days to trigger blooming. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, peak blooming in Japan was mid-April, but starting in the early 19th century cherry trees began to bloom earlier, with the trend accelerating in the first decades of the 21st century. In 2021, the peak bloom in Kyoto was on March 26, the earliest arrival in over 1,200 years. This was almost three weeks earlier than the historic average. The early bloom corresponds to an increase in average annual temperature in Kyoto by 6°F since the 1850s.
There are consequences to the earlier blossoming. If flowers bloom too early, they arrive before crucial pollinators like bees and insects and can be ruined by a late-spring frost. Earlier blossoms can also lengthen pollen seasons worsening allergies.
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