Once again, people in Japan are enjoying the spring cherry blossoms. This year (2010) there was a bit of a surprise that came with them.

On April 16th, it was unusually cold for Japan this time of year and snow fell even in the Kanto region. (It was the first time in 41 years for snow to fall this late in the season in some areas.)

While one often can see ume blossoming with snow around them, it's rare to see spring cherry blossoms with snow. (There are varieties of the trees that bloom in winter.)

Unfortunately, with the wet, heavy snow piled up on the fully in bloom branches, a number of trees weren't able to hold up the extra weight.

While the muddy, snowy ground did deter some hanami goers for a bit, the cherry blossom season is still in full swing and most of the trees seemed to have weathered the surprise cold snap fairly well.