AiA wrote on Mar 31
st, 2021 at 9:52pm:
And I know that the timing of cherry blossoms is "off" in the countryside far away from any large city.
And UHI knows its own boundaries?
"In this article we will feature five cherry blossom viewing spots in Kameoka city, only 20 minutes from Kyoto Station by train."
https://matcha-jp.com/en/4187"The timing of the appearance of the country’s nationally-revered pink blossoms - known as sakura - depends on the weather conditions leading up to spring. Warmer weather has meant that blossoms in the city of Kyoto peaked on 26 March, which is the earliest date recorded since records began in 812 AD in imperial court documents and diaries. This is according to data collected by Yasuyuki Aono at Osaka Prefecture University."
""The trend over the last 200 years towards earlier flowering in the Kyoto cherry blossoms is due to two things," Benjamin Cook, adjunct associate research scientist at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, tells Lonely Planet. "The first is climate change from burning of fossil fuels, which is generally making things warmer pretty much everywhere around the world. The second is an enhanced urban heat island effect associated with increased urbanization in Kyoto, which is also making local temperatures warmer." "
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/kyoto-cherry-blossoms-early-bloomNow all you have to do is tease out how much (if any) of each.