Here's when Vancouver's cherry blossoms are set to reach "peak bloom"

It’s hard to ignore the signs of spring around the city as beautiful pink and white cherry blossoms are blooming.

Thanks to a UBC climate change biologist, aided by citizen scientists, we now have a prediction for the perfect day to head out and see the city’s finest spring trees.

According to Dr. Elizabeth Wolkovich, “the cherry trees will likely bloom between late March and early April,” she said. In Vancouver, the average predicted peak bloom date is Saturday, April 2.

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Not sure where to start looking for cherry blossoms? Check out our handy map!

You can also check the Blooming Now page from the Vancouver Cherry Blossom festival for more information. Please remember to be respectful when visiting the neighbourhoods and to practice physical distancing.

Dr. Wolkovich and her colleagues in the faculty of forestry had the idea to help get the public involved in figuring out when peak bloom happens, according to UBC News.

They helped start the first-ever International Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition, where citizen scientists could look at data and make their own predictions for when the trees would reach peak bloom.

Cherry Blossom Prediction Competition

“In my lab at UBC, we wanted to improve our model for predicting how trees respond to climate change, particularly by observing when they leaf out or flower,” said Dr. Wolkovich.

“We decided to study cherry trees because we know a lot about their history — the record of peak bloom of cherry trees in Kyoto, Japan is the longest human record we have of recurring biological events,” she said.

Now, citizen scientists from around the world are helping researchers. They used meteorological data plus other factors to help support their predictions.

“Over the long term, we could apply this model to study the climate response of other plants and trees and scale up to improve models of carbon storage and climate change itself,” said Dr. Wolkovich.