The nearly never-ending winter seemed like this day would never come, and yet: The cherry blossoms hit peak bloom today, according to the National Park Service.

Peak bloom refers to the time when 70 percent of the cherry blossoms along the tidal basin are in bloom. This is the latest peak bloom date the city has seen in a decade. (Though Last year the cherry blossoms hit peak bloom on April 9.)

Brian Hall, a spokesman for NPS, says barring any extreme wind or weather conditions, the blooms should last between seven and 10 days. The National Cherry Blossom Festival started March 20 and runs through Sunday.

Today’s announcement means the parks agency was pretty spot-on with its cherry blossom predictions this year. When temperatures were below freezing in early March, NPS predicted the flowers would hit peak bloom between April 8 and April 12. Bingo!

Photo by Matt Dunn