72 Microseasons of the Pacific Northwest
The best way to know a place is to watch it change.
Every five days, a new microseason names a quiet, precise moment in the forests, rivers, and skies of the Pacific Northwest.
What is a microseason?
Rooted in an ancient Japanese tradition, the year divides into 72 five-day periods — each named for a precise, observable moment in nature. Salmonberries blushing pink. Coho pushing upstream. The varied thrush singing in the dripping February forest.
We've adapted this practice to the Pacific Northwest — so instead of reading about this place, you can step outside and find it changing: snowpack melting off the Cascades, big-leaf maples catching their first spring light.
Jan 1-4
King tides surge to the year's peak. Ocean swells six inches higher—a glimpse of rising seas.
Mar 16-20
Hummingbird scouts return from Mexico. Rufous males seek the currant's red nectar.
Apr 20-24
Dogwood conjures clouds in the canopy. White bracts floating among the firs.
72 seasons like these, cycling through the year
The Podcast
Listen to the seasons.
Each episode dives deep into one microseason — what's happening in the forest, on the coast, and in the sky.
Mar 11-15
The Pacific Herring - Visible from SpacePacific herring turn the bays milky white — billions of eggs, and the cascade of life that follows.
Mar 16-20
The High Stakes Life of Rufous HummingbirdsRufous hummingbirds travel over 3,000 miles from Mexico, arriving just as the red flowering currant blooms. We follow their high-stakes return to the Pacific Northwest.
Upcoming Festivals
See all festivals →Washington Native Plant Society Spring Hikes
Washington Butterfly Association Spring Field Trips
Camassia Natural Area
Wings Over the Rockies Nature Festival
Foraging
What's fruiting near you right now?
Check real conditions — elevation, recent rainfall, and temperature — against 10 common PNW mushroom species. Enter a location and get a ranked list in seconds.
Start noticing.
This isn't a nature encyclopedia. It's a practice — a way of slowing down and living in harmony with the rhythms already happening around you. The cedar-scented air after rain, light breaking through clouds over the Sound: these are the signals. Microseasons teach you how to read them.
Get a reminder every 5 days right in your inbox.