D.C.'s cherry blossoms are just one step away from peak bloom.
The trees have reached stage five — puffy white, The National Park Service, or NPS, announced Saturday, which happens to be the last day of winter.
Delicate, white petals are emerging from buds on trees across the Tidal Basin.
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"The blossoms are out, now we're just waiting on them to open," the National Park Service said.
Puffy white is the last phase before the cherry blossoms reach peak bloom.
The NPS has predicted the blossoms' peak bloom to happen about March 23-25 this year.
Peak bloom date is defined as when 70% of the blossoms on the Yoshino cherry trees along the Tidal Basin are open. It most often happens between the last week of March and the first week of April, the NPS said.
The year will be the first time since before the start of the pandemic that D.C. will celebrate a full, in-person National Cherry Blossom Festival. It's set for March 20-April 17.
