National Park Service: DC's cherry trees reached peak bloom

WASHINGTON — The National Park Service says Washington's famous cherry trees reached peak bloom over the weekend.

The National Park Service says on its website that peak bloom was reached Saturday.

This year's bloom was different from in the past because cold weather killed half of the blossoms on the famous trees just as they were reaching peak bloom.

Peak bloom is normally defined as the day when 70 percent of the blossoms are open on the Yoshino cherry trees around the Tidal Basin. But that didn't happen this year because half of those blossoms were killed as a result of the cold. Officials defined peak bloom as the day 70 percent of the remaining blossoms were open.