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Lucia Wu takes photos of Brock University's cherry blossom trees, in full bloom on Thursday, April 18.By Julie Jocsak St. Catharines Standard
It’s shaping up to be a nice weekend in southern Ontario for both its human residents and its now-flowering cherry blossoms — if we can just get through a bit of wind today.
With a high-pressure system moving in, in the wake of some scattered showers this morning and a mild high of 15 C (out of Pearson airport in Mississauga), Peter Kimbell, a warning preparedness meteorologist with Environment Canada, in a late Friday morning interview said it will be “a bit of windy afternoon” with winds gusting up to 50 km/h into the evening.
“But then it’s actually a fairly nice weekend, 30-per-cent chance of showers on Saturday, not too great, and then very pleasant on Sunday,” he said, with high temperatures in the low double digits both days, “so really quite a nice forecast for the weekend.”
And it’s forecasted to continue into the work week with Monday sunny and a high of 9 C which is all very pleasant for viewing — and preserving — the cherry blossoms that are now blooming.
The Royal Botanical Gardens, for one, said its now-burgeoning blooms survived a bit of a scare this week, as it explained on its web page devoted to its flowering cherries:
“Despite the mid-week wind and rain knocking off some early blossoms, the trees are still showing a marvellous display which is perfect for the upcoming weekend.”
The RBG’s collection, it said, features a diversity of cherry tree types with varied bloom times.
“The 'Accolade' cherries are set to reach their peak bloom this weekend (April 20-21), whereas some of the later-blooming varieties — like the 'Akebono' cherries — are anticipated to peak early next week.”
But RBG advises that they’ll be gone before you know it.
“These iconic blooms are fleeting and won’t last long, so plan your visit soon.”
Meanwhile, Toronto’s iconic High Park display, on its web page, indicated full bloom is imminent:
“As of April 19, the cherry blossoms in High Park are at stage five of the bloom development process. We can clearly see the fluffy white petals of the blossoms.
“The bloom development process has begun with at least 20 per cent of the cherry blossoms in High Park having opened and will continue over the weekend.
“We expect to reach peak bloom in High Park on Monday, April 22, when at least 70 per cent of the blossoms will have opened.
“Once open, flowers last from four-10 days, depending on the weather conditions. Cool, calm weather can extend the bloom period, while warm, unsettled weather can shorten it.”
And that next unsettled weather, according to meteorologist Kimbell is Tuesday night when a low-pressure system comes in, raising the temperature to 15 C and then quickly departing, leaving another cool high-pressure system in its wake with Wednesday’s high at only 7 C.
That system, he said, at least at this far-off point in the forecast, will likely produce winds “kind of similar to today, probably.”
来源链接：
https://www.toronto.com/news/nice-weekend-in-southern-ontario-shaping-up-for-cherry-blossom-viewing/article_17017c93-d778-5c30-b609-e13c8487d2da.html
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