Typhoons Trick Japan’s Cherry Trees into Blooming Months Early

Japan’s famed cherry blossoms, sakura, are reported to be blooming several months ahead of schedule. The Weathernews website said it (38)_____ more than 350 reports of premature blossoms.

Experts said the flowers’ surprise appearance (39)_____ to extreme weather events in Japan in recent weeks, including two particularly powerful typhoons: the violent storms had stripped many trees of their leaves. One purpose of the leaves is (40)_____ hormones that prevent buds from flowering ahead of time. Hiroyuki Wada, a tree doctor at the Flower Association of Japan said that the unusually warm weather that followed the typhoons (41)_____ have “tricked” the trees’ buds into flowering as well. “This has happened before, but I don’t remember (42)_____ anything on this scale,” said Wada.