Gregory's ServerA striking visualisation of #climatechange: the date of Kyoto cherry blossoms' reaching full bloom, plotted over the past 1000 years.
Thanks to the cultural significance of cherry blossoms in Japan, we have data on the specific day of the year when a very particular species of cherry blossom (P. jamasakura) reached "full-flowering" (満開) in a specific area on the outskirts of Kyoto (Arashiyama), all the way back to 800 AD.
The trend of the past 50 years is hard to miss…
Most of the data was painstakingly collected and analysed by Prof. Aono and his collaborators: http://atmenv.envi.osakafu-u.ac.jp/aono/kyophenotemp4/
The full-bloom date for 2023 (yesterday: the 29th), was confirmed by local resident and friend, Aya. (bc the data refers to a very specific species and location, they do not match official JMA reports)