Cherry blossoms' earliest peak in 1,200 years linked to climate change
30 March 2021
Cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., and Japan have already reached peak flowering dates — and the Japanese city of Kyoto recorded its earliest bloom for over 1,200 years, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
Why it matters: It fits a longer-term trend spanning decades of Japanese mountain cherry trees flowering earlier, and scientists warn it's another strong sign of the impact of climate change.
Cherry blossom times each year, Kyoto, Japan, 800 A.D. to the present day. Photo: Osaka Prefecture University.
What they're saying: Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann told WashPost. "Evidence, like the timing of cherry blossoms, is one of the historical ‘proxy’ measurements that scientists look at to reconstruct past climate.
- "In this case, that 'proxy' is telling us something that quantitative, rigorous long-term climate reconstructions have already told us — that the human-caused warming of the planet we're witnessing today is unprecedented going back millennia."
- Columbia University climate scientist Benjamin Cook noted that the earlier flowering is likely down to a combination of climate change and "an enhanced heat island effect due to increased urbanization of the environment over the last couple of centuries," per the Post.
The big picture: Kyoto's cherry blossoms reached peak bloom last Friday, following an unusually warm spring.
- "In 1850, the average flowering date was about April 17; now, it's closer to April 5," WashPost reports. "During this time, the average temperature in Kyoto has risen by about 6 degrees."
Tokyo's cherry blossom season began on March 14, 12 days earlier than the typical time, and hit peak bloom on March 22 — the second-earliest date ever recorded, per Japan Forward.
In Washington, D.C., the National Park Service announced in a statement Sunday that the Yoshino cherry trees had "reached peak bloom after temps well above average last week sped us through the final stages of the blossom cycle."
- NPS records show that the trees, donated by Japan in 1912, have hit peak bloom earlier and earlier — going from around April 5 to March 31.
🌸Cherry blossoms in Tokyo reached full bloom Monday, making it the second earliest on record. "Full bloom" is when 80% of blossoms on the observation tree in Yasukuni Shrine are open🌸 pic.twitter.com/H6G6lA0gLk
— Sayaka Mori (@sayakasofiamori) March 22, 2021
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.