The High Park cherry blossoms are likely Toronto's surest sign of spring. When the sakura trees bloom, you know that temperate weather has arrived.

In what has become an increasingly popular tradition, thousands of people will make the pilgrimage to High Park to bask in the beauty of this most generous gift from Japan, but the question on everyone's minds around now is when exactly peak bloom will take place.

Unsurprisingly, it's difficult to perfectly forecast when the sakura will flower, but at this point cherry tree watchers are becoming more confident of their predictions. The High Park Nature Centre has pegged May 7-9th as the period when peak bloom will take place. If this holds true, the weekend of the 9th and 10th will be the busiest of the year in the park.

Cherry blossoms tend to maintain bloom between four and 10 days. In other words, there are often two good weekends to view the floral spectacle if the weather cooperates. Rain during the bloom period can hasten the petals to fall, as could a sudden and sharp drop in the temperature.

Let's hope neither of those things happen. It's worth noting that once the trees do bloom, it's good idea to carve out some time to check them out when the park isn't overrun by photographers. Come mid-morning on the first Saturday of peak bloom, High Park will be a snap happy zoo.

Photo by Alvin Ang