2020 National Cherry Blossom Festival FAQ

By Abigail Constantino
March 20, 2020 | 7:14 PM

FILE- In this March 30, 2019, file photo the Dome of the U.S. Capitol Building is visible as cherry blossom trees bloom on the West Lawn in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, FIle)

Cherry blossom trees in springtime D.C. are almost as iconic as the city’s monuments.

Here is everything you should know about the Japanese cherry blossoms in D.C.

The cherry blossoms are expected to reach peak bloom between March 21 and March 24.

WTOP’s Reem Nadeem contributed to this report.

School bus emergency? Fairfax County students have a plan to handle it

By Heather Gustafson
August 21, 2026 | 10:05 PM

This story is part of WTOP’s 2026 Back to School coverage. The wheels on the bus will soon be going round and round again in Fairfax County, Virginia, and some of its young riders are learning what to do if there’s an emergency on the way to school. The annual Safety Patrol Training Camp, hosted by Fairfax County Public Schools' Office of Transportation Services, combined hands-on exercises with classroom lessons to teach students how to keep calm during emergencies on buses. The training can feel remarkably realistic, with overturned school buses on their side or completely upside down in the middle of the county bus depot. Other buses, right side up, fill with smoke that is water-based but mimics the intensity of a bus overheating.

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