The tail end of cherry blossom season

The last of the cherry blossoms - Davie Street, Yaletown

Last night around 9pm (almost serendipitously timed to the Canucks loss), there was a sudden and intense storm with hurricane-like winds blowing sheets of rain down the city streets. The surface of the roads turned to rivers in an instant.

We stood in the solarium and watched waterfalls spill down our windows. Those out on the town, unfortunate enough to be caught outside, could be heard shrieking as they ran for cover.

Now this kind of weather is not out of place if it were November, but you typically don't get that kind of intensity here in the spring. You get that in Texas or Montreal or Alberta, not coastal BC. Climate change strikes again.

After brunch this afternoon we ran into our friend Patrick who also commented on the strangeness of last night's event. He said he was watching the storm from his balcony, and moments before the rain fell, he was admiring the blossoms swirl up and through the streets, like the plastic bag dancing through the air in American Beauty.

While most of Vancouver's cherry trees lost their blossoms weeks ago, there's still one late blooming species with puff-ball like blossoms which still cling to their branches. I decided to see how they fared after last night's storm, and surprisingly, it was a lot better than I had anticipated. But as these final cherry blossoms fall, it signifies the tail end of cherry blossom season as we approach that ambiguous boundary between spring and summer in Vancouver.