Toronto’s cherry blossoms are “ahead of schedule” & here’s how to track their bloom

Sakura in High Park aka the beautiful cherry blossoms that bloom in Toronto, could be coming early this year and are on track to do so.

Toronto cherry blossom expert Steven Joniak, who most know as Sakura Steve, keeps track of Sakura in High Park with his cherry blossom guide. According to Joniak’s latest update, the cherry blossom bud’s progress is “ahead of schedule.”

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Joniak’s most recent update about Sakura in High Park states that upon visiting the trees in the park’s sports fields, “more than 90% of the buds on the trees in this park area were showing the same stage of development, which I would have expected to see closer to the end of March!”

He continued, “This is a definite sign that the trees are currently on track to bloom earlier this year.”

Joniak credits Toronto’s recent spout of warm weather to be the reason for the early push, but notes that there are cooler temperatures in next week’s forecast.

“Depending on how long the cooler weather prevails will determine how much slower the buds progress into the 3rd and 4th stages of development.”

The cherry blossom expert is looking on the positive side though, sharing that “If the current development rate does continue, we may see a bloom begin as early as mid-April.”

According to Joniak’s record of each year’s bloom, last year’s came on April 20th and lasted until April 28th.

Joniak has a section of his website that shows the various stages of Sakura with images and descriptions of what the buds look like in each stage.

High Park’s pages also shares images of the bud’s progress here, so you can have a daily visual of how Sakura in High Park is moving along.

Cherry blossoms are nearly here, Toronto!