Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Cherry blossoms' abnormally early blooming moves up spring flower festivals
Visitors enjoy the view of fully bloomed cherry blossom trees in Yeouido, southwestern Seoul, Saturday. Seoul's cherry blossoms started blooming on March 25 this year, which is 14 days earlier than average. Yonhap
By Lee Hae-rin
By Lee Hae-rin
The unexpectedly early blooming of spring flowers in Korea this year has left local governments scrambling to host their flower festivals earlier than usual to prevent the long-awaited mask-free spring events from ending up flower-free.
According to the Korea Metrological Administration (KMA), cherry blossoms in Seoul started blooming on March 25 this year, which is 14 days earlier than average, coming around April 8. It is also the second-earliest blooming date recorded since the KMA started making meteorological observations in 1922.
Flowers in the southeastern regions of Daegu and North and South Gyeongsang provinces also bloomed about eight days earlier than usual. In the southeastern port city of Pohang, cherry blossoms bloomed on March 16, while Daegu and Andong bloomed on March 21 and 23, respectively.
Due to the unexpected early blooming of cherry blossoms, regional spring flower festivals in North Gyeongsang Province's Uiseong and Andong, and Gangwon Province's Namdaecheon kicked off last week, which is around a week ahead of their usual annual schedules.
In Seoul and around the capital area, several flower-viewing venues with cherry blossom trees were already crowded with springtime picnickers before the festivals kicked off over the weekend.
Over 1.1 million people visited Yeouido's cherry blossom road, Yoonjung-ro, last weekend, according to Seoul's Yeongdeungpo District Office. In response, the district office moved up the traffic control originally planned for the Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival, set to take place between April 4 and 9.
In the city's northeastern Seongdong District, around 220,000 people visited Seoul Forest. In response, Seongdong District rescheduled the region's two cherry blossom festivals ― held in Songjeong village and Geumho Mountain ― to April 1, a little over a week earlier than the original date of April 9.
The blooming time for flowering trees depends on temperature and duration of sunlight. The average temperature in Seoul during March was 3.9 degrees Celsius higher than last March and the duration of sunlight was 20.5 hours more.
The KMA estimates that the country's spring flower blooming time could be moved forward a further week in advance if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut and abnormally high temperatures continue.