Sakura Update & Prediction
Predicting when Japan's cherry blossoms, or Sakura, will bloom is part art & part science.
The art part is monitoring the weather during the lead up to Sakura time to get a feel of whem they will bloom compared to the average, and compare that to the blooms dates of cities to your south.
The science part is quite fun. Centuries ago, some clever Samurai noticed that the plum trees reliably bloom about one week before the cherry trees. So here and there, people planted the odd plum tree as an easy indicator of when the Sakura would show up.
Well, today the plum blossoms are out. Which means that the cherry blossoms will blossom here in Furano on or about May 7...which is a few days later than average, for those keeping track at home, and which matches up with the cooler-than-average spring we've had this year.
Let's see what happens. See you in Furano.