Photo by dmclici

WTOP reports that a number of cherry trees around the Tidal Basin were damaged by heavy snowfall this month.

“A number of branches have been split, and there have been a couple of trees that have had the canopies taken off,” National Park Service spokesman Bill Line tells WTOP after he toured the area.

In some cases, branches six inches thick have been snapped off. Branches on other cherry trees are bent down to the ground and remain buried under snow.

Fear not, though, the trees will most certainly recover, given time. But could the damage adversely affect this year’s National Cherry Blossom Festival? Maybe a little, particularly if freezing overnight temperatures persist for a long time. Still, Line said he expects this year’s festival will be “as grand and as glorious” as any other year. Just ignore all those broken trees, we guess.