Does global warming decrease the correlation between cherry blossom flowering date and latitude in Japan?

Abstract

In Japan, the geographical distribution of the first date of flowering (FFD) of Yoshino cherry trees (Cerasus ×yedoensis) in 2020, a year when temperatures were mild during the previous December and March, was different from the average FFD, which progresses northward along a latitudinal gradient. We hypothesized that global warming may have changed the average geographical pattern of the FFD. To test this hypothesis, we examined the relationship between the observed FFD and latitude at 42 sites during the period 1953-2020. We found that the correlation between FFD and latitude had decreased since 1980. This decrease may have been caused by a rise of temperatures in winter that delayed dormancy release and the subsequent FFD in areas where the annual mean temperature is high. Our results suggest that the correlation between FFD and latitude will decrease further as the climate warms in the future.