JC98

Hi,

Is end of March a good time to travel to D.C. and the surrounding areas? Would it still be snowy and slushy then? We want to do some road trips around that area to small towns and see the outdoors, etc. Want to see Montecello, etc. too. Would flowers be blooming at that time?

Also, please recommend some of your favorite places in that region.

Were thinking of going for 1 week to 10 days.

Thanks!

JC98

Sorry for typo. Weather.

E_M

The spring flowers will be in bloom, and you'll be able to see the Cherry Blossom Festival, which begins at the end of March. You should be out of the bad snowy weather by then, but snow and sleet-y weather has been known to happen. Temperatures are generally in the 50s, but they could drop into the 30s at night.

On the other hand, it could be a balmy 65 all day.

Best to layer.

EricH

That is early for flowers. It's been a cold winter. If that keeps up, it's unlikely that the cherry blossoms, which are about the first blooms of the year, will be early. Your trip into the countryside would be even less likely to see blooms in late March. If you can delay by a couple of weeks, you would get much better conditions.

nytraveler

If you head into the mountains it will still be winter and the spring flowers won;t be out yet nor the trees in leaf. And Cherry Blossom is usually the first half of April.

You probably won;t still have snow (but it's possible) but only a few of the earliest flowers will be out. (It has been a long, cold and snowy winter - which can easily delay flowers a week or more.)

E_M

My crocuses and daffodils will be in bloom, and the Cherry Blossom Festival begins March 27th. Yes, you'll have more variety if you wait 2 to 3 weeks, but remember that April is one of the busier months at many hot spots (like Mt. Vernon).

JC98

We could push the trip to D.C. out to the first week of April. But given the weather this winter, do you think cherry trees would blossom by the first week of April based on past years' experience? The Cherry Blossom Festival website puts the peak bloom date to be April 4th, but this is based on averages from all the past year without taking into account this year's weather condition.

Thanks for any insight! We need to book out air tickets soon and would want to catch the bloom while we're there.