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Subscribe to RSSA boy dives into the water on opening day of public swimming pools in Munich, Southern Germany on May 1.
Joerg Koch / AP
Michal Cizekmichal Cizek / AFP - Getty Images
Picture perfect wedding in Prague
A newly married man kisses his bride on the bank of a river in Prague during a warm sunny day on April 27.
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A rainbow of tulips in Germany's infinite flower fields
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Farmer Christiane Degenhardt (C) and friend Barbara Ulferts gather tulips at Degenhardt's tulip field on April 27, near Schwaneberg, Germany. Spring weather is finally taking hold in Germany with temperatures expected to reach 28 degrees Celsius by the weekend.
Sean Gallup / Getty Images
Workers check tulip heads in a tulip field on April 27, near Schwaneberg, Germany. Spring weather is finally taking hold in Germany with temperatures expected to reach 28 degrees Celsius by the weekend. Since the tulips will be sold for their bulbs rather than their flowers, the workers need to check that the machine that bends the tulip heads over (a process that makes for better bulbs) was successful.
Diego Azubel / EPA
An early spring coaxes the birds, bees, flowers and humans to come out from winter hibernation to enjoy the sunshine.
An intact dandelion, ready to accept your wishes
Matt Rourke / AP
Dandelions are in a state ready for seed dispersal by the wind on April 20, in Doylestown, Pa.
Diego Azubel / EPA
An early spring coaxes the birds, bees, flowers and humans to come out from winter hibernation to enjoy the sunshine.
It's raining cherry blossom petals in Japan
Shizuo Kambayashi / AP
Cherry blossom petals fall on a Japan Self-Defense Force member standing in the compound of the Defense Ministry where PAC-3 Patriot missile units are deployed for North Korea's rocket launch, expected to take place sometime between April 12-16, in Tokyo, Wednesday, April 11, 2012. North Korean space officials said Tuesday that all assembly and preparations for this week's planned satellite launch have been completed, and denied it is a cover for a missile test.
For more pretty photos of cherry blossoms and scenes of spring see our slideshows below.
An early spring coaxes the birds, bees, flowers and humans to come out from winter hibernation to enjoy the sunshine.
Karen Bleier / AFP - Getty Images
This year marks 100 years since the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki to Washington, D.C.
Japan's iconic cherry blossoms reach full bloom
Franck Robichon / EPA
A couple in a boat passes beneath cherry blossom trees along Imperial Palace Chidorigafuchi moats in Tokyo, Japan, on April 6. The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that blossoms of cherry trees are fully bloomed in Tokyo.
Yuriko Nakao / Reuters
Cherry blossoms in full bloom are seen in Kawasaki, near Tokyo on April 6. Spring has begun in Japan with the blooming of the country's beloved cherry trees, with revelers eager to use the occasion as a way to break from a year marked by crisis and disaster.
Franck Robichon / EPA
A cherry blossom is seen lying on a cherry tree roots at the Yasukuni Shrine precincts in Tokyo, Japan, on April 6. The Japan Meteorological Agency announced that blossoms of cherry trees are fully bloomed in Tokyo.
Love cherry blossoms? Check out...
Karen Bleier / AFP - Getty Images
This year marks 100 years since the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki to Washington, D.C.
Snow returns to Scotland after record highs
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Nina Padmanabhan and Murray Waugh shelter from the cold in a red telephone box following a sledging trip on April 3, in Braemar, Scotland. Snow has returned to parts of Scotland just a week after the country experienced record high temperatures for March.
Jeff J Mitchell / Getty Images
Scottish deer forage for food on a hillside near the Spittal of Glenshee on April 3, in Glenshee, Scotland. Snow has returned to parts of Scotland just a week after the country experienced record high temperatures for March.
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An early spring coaxes the birds, bees, flowers and humans to come out from winter hibernation to enjoy the sunshine.
Beachgoers enjoy warm spring weather in Bournemouth
Matt Cardy / Getty Images
People enjoy the warm fine weather besides the sea on March 26 in Bournemouth, England. The Met Office expect today to be the warmest day of the year so far, with temperatures expected to reach about 70 degrees Fahrenheit across many parts of the country.
Matt Cardy / Getty Images
People enjoy the warm fine weather besides the sea on March 26 in Bournemouth, England.
Matt Cardy / Getty Images
People enjoy the warm fine weather besides the sea on March 26 in Bournemouth, England.
Europeans soak up sun during unusually warm weather
Charles Platiau / Reuters
People relax in the sun near the fountains at Trocadero square near the Eiffel tower as unusually warm temperatures hit Paris on Friday.
Alastair Grant / AP
French tourists have a picnic in the park as they sit in the sun in deck chairs in Hyde Park, London, on Friday. Temperatures in the capital are expected to rise to 20 celsius (68 fahrenheit) this weekend, far above the normal average for March.
Michele Tantussi / AFP - Getty Images
People enjoy the sun at the Goerlitzer park on Friday in Berlin as the temperature reached 18 degrees celsius.
Spring is off to a warm start in 2012, but it remains to be seen how this year will compare to 2011. Last year, human activity kept global temperatures close to a record high according to the World Meteorological Organization in this Reuters story:
On average, global temperatures in 2011 were lower than the record level hit the previous year but were still 0.40 degrees Centigrade above the 1961-1990 average and the 11th highest on record, the report said.
WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud warned that the consequences of global warming could be permanent. "The world is warming because of human activities and this is resulting in far-reaching and potentially irreversible impact on our Earth, atmosphere and oceans," he said.
La Nina, a natural weather phenomenon linked to heavy rains and flooding in the Asia-Pacific and South America and drought in Africa, was one of the strongest in the past 60 years and stayed active in the tropical Pacific until May 2011.
Unseasonably warm weather brings early spring to much of the U.S.
John Flavell / AP
A group of Howell Elementary School, in Elsmere, Ky., walk past the tulip garden in front of the Kentucky State Capitol Wednesday March 22, 2012.
An early spring coaxes the birds, bees, flowers and humans to come out from winter hibernation to enjoy the sunshine.
Along with the blossoms, a cacophony of cameras
National Photo Company via Library of Congress
Photographers shooting cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. on April 4, 1922.
Gary Cameron / Reuters
Photographer Jacques Gude (R) lines up a cherry blossom branch in Washington, on March 18. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the gift from Japan to the United States that started with a planting ceremony between then U.S. First lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador.
Gary Cameron / Reuters
This year marks 100 years since the gift of 3,000 cherry trees from Tokyo Mayor Yukio Ozaki to Washington, D.C.
Some things never change. One hundred years later, the cherry blossom trees along the Tidal Basin in Washington D.C. continue to attract visitors and their cameras to the colorful springtime festival.
While there have been major advances in technology over the past century, photographers' desire to capture the fleeting flowers never fades. There is something very endearing about the ability of these delicate blossoms to draw a million visitors and their cameras each spring.
The Associated Press explains the history of the trees:
It was 100 years ago this month when first lady Helen Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador, planted two Yoshino cherry trees on the bank of Washington's Tidal Basin. They were the first of 3,000 planted as part of a gift from the city of Tokyo as a symbol of friendship. The original pair still stands, along with about 100 of the original trees transported from Japan.
It's a tradition that almost didn't happen. In 1910, a first gift of 2,000 trees was shipped from Japan to Washington. But agriculture officials discovered the trees were infested with insects and diseased, and they were burned. Diplomats wrote letters of regret to officials in Tokyo. Two years later, they tried again with a shipment of 3,000 trees that made it to Washington in good condition. Read the full story.
The peak bloom dates - when about 70% of the trees are blooming - was predicted to fall between March 20-23. The early spring coaxed the flowers to come out earlier than usual, though the trees will continue to bloom through April.
Related links:
- Washington, D.C., celebrates 100 years of friendship, cherry blossoms
- Centennial Cherry Blossom Festival offers myriad of activity
- Slideshow: Spring is in the air!
Harris & Ewing / Library of Congress
The Cherry Blossom Festival in 1937.
Library of Congress
A hand-colored print of the Tidal Basin, with cherry blossoms, and the Washington Monument, Washington, D.C in 1920.
Martha McMillan Roberts / Library of Congress
Camera bugs snapping the cherry blossoms across the Tidal Basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival, in Washington, D.C in 1941.
With temperatures rising far above normal for this time of year, the famous Washington, D.C., cherry blossoms have already started to bloom. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Tree in Germany blooms 10,000 Easter eggs
Stefan Thomas / EPA
Volker Kraft decorates his Easter egg tree in Saalfeld, Germany on Wednesday, March 21, 2012. It takes the family around two weeks to hang the 10,000 hand painted eggs into the tree.