An unusually strong typhoon season may have caused some of Japan’s famous cherry blossom trees to bloom several months early.

Weathernews, a weather site in Japan, said it had received more than 350 reports this week of emerging cherry blossoms, which typically attract tourists from around the globe in April, when they usually appear.

With few exceptions, the picturesque pink flowers don’t reveal themselves in the fall. But Hiroyuki Wada, an arborist for the Flower Association of Japan, told the public broadcaster NHK that extreme weather had stripped the trees of leaves, which produce a hormone that inhibits the buds from growing. In September, Japan was walloped by Typhoon Jebi, its strongest storm in 25 years.

“This year’s storms affected wide regions, and the strong winds may have caused the blooming,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”