Trees Abloom Amid Winter Warm Spell

Temperatures Might Stay Higher Than Normal

Cherry trees bloom near the National Zoo. The year's weather ended the same way it began. (By Andrea Bruce -- The Washington Post)

When the cherry trees in front of her Northwest Washington apartment building began to turn pink with blossoms several days ago, delighting her and her children, Nina Chkhenkeli took pictures and sent them to family members in Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia.

"It's amazing," she said yesterday, standing next to one of the Macomb Street trees and joining the rest of the Washington area in celebrating the end of a warm year. "I told everyone back home, this is what it is like in Washington in December."

Well, at least in 2006.

Steve Zubrick, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service's weather forecasting office in Sterling, said December probably will be one of the 10 warmest on record for the Washington area. Additionally, 2006 might be the area's eighth-warmest year since 1871, when data were first collected.

December's warmth proved a fitting end to a year of abnormal weather in the region. The year started much in the same way it ended: January 2006 was one of the 10 warmest on record, with some days in the mid-60s.

A springtime drought was followed by June floods that claimed at least seven lives and left parts of several of the region's federal buildings under water. Another drought appeared in August, when a record heat wave pushed thermometers above 100 degrees.

Scientists were cautious about assigning credit or blame for the unusual weather. Many think global warming, caused by man-made air pollution, is increasing temperatures worldwide. In the United States, 2006 will be the second- or third-warmest year on record.

But the balmy cooler months might also have something to do with the El Niño climate pattern -- a complicated phenomenon brought on by warming of the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Whatever the reason, many area residents, expecting cold weather to return, said yesterday that they were going to enjoy temperatures in the upper 40s as long as they could.

Corliss Wallingford was walking her three dogs yesterday in the Rosemont section of Alexandria. In December, "we kept telling the children each time might be the last time we could do this outside this year," said Wallingford, who runs Lorton-based Simple Changes, a group that provides therapeutic horseback riding for children with disabilities. But, she said, they might be outside again Wednesday.

Pansies filled yards with blues, pinks and yellows, a common December sight in Washington. Unusual, though, were the small yellow blossoms bursting forth on several forsythia bushes, a blast of color that typically does not show until spring.

Drawing particular attention were the four spindly 8-foot-tall cherry trees in front of Chkhenkeli's five-story apartment building, Macomb Gardens, west of Wisconsin Avenue. At least admirers thought they were cherry trees, with scores of white-pink blossoms, each about a half-inch in diameter.

Claudia Olson, manager of perennials at Johnson's Florist and Garden Center, confirmed the identification. She said that she had seen the trees a week ago and that they appeared to be an autumnal variety, sometimes known as rosebud or winter cherry. They are known for blooming in winter if the weather is warm enough.

Olson said she was more worried about local holly bushes, magnolias and the grape vines at the winery near her home in Dickerson. They could be hurt by a cold spell if the temperature drops too quickly, leaving the plants with little time to adjust.

The National Weather Service is trying to figure out the chances of that happening, Zubrick said. Yesterday's high was about 48 degrees, and its low was 38 degrees, compared with the day's average high of 43 and low of 29.

Temperatures recorded by the weather service at Reagan National Airport had December's average at 44.3 degrees, well above the month's 39.5-degree average for the region.

The weather service's forecasters had said that there was an equal chance that winter temperatures would be higher or lower than normal. But after plugging the past 21 days of above-normal temperatures into their calculations, forecasters "have the region as having a slightly better chance of [temperatures] being above normal" through March 31, Zubrick said.

Erin Gray, a waitress at Two Amys, the gourmet pizza restaurant next to Macomb Gardens, peered out at the cherry trees and said she was not that happy about all this.

"I'm from Vermont," she said. "I feel we should have some snow about now."