Once more the mercury in the District soared into the 70s on Sunday, far exceeding the averages, showing off the mild side of March, and helping to create conditions that seemed indisputably idyllic.

It was Washington’s fifth day of the last six in the 70s, the balmy and blissful region of meteorological contentment, neither chilly nor steamy, lacking in cause for shivering or sweltering.

Although the blue sky, the strong sun, the air hinting at the soft messages of spring, seemed to provide a feast of pleasant atmospheric sights and sensations. But Sunday offered still more. Sunday also turned out to be the day when the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin, a nationally renowned floral symbol of spring, reached full bloom.

As of 5 p.m. Sunday’s high temperature in the capital was 72 degrees, six degrees warmer than Saturday, which was itself a day in Washington that had justly gathered laurels and plaudits for its many weather-related virtues.

Sunday’s 72 degrees was also 15 degrees above Washington’s average high temperature for March 17. It was a St. Patrick’s Day reading perhaps likely to turn residents of colder spots green with envy. Not until the end of April, more than a month from now does the average high temperature in Washington reach 72 degrees.

At many moments on Sunday, the sky seemed amply populated with clouds. In its hourly assessment of the sky above Washington, the local office of the National Weather Service frequently used the term “partly cloudy.”

For the most part, the many clouds seemed white, reminiscent perhaps of a fresh load of laundry hung out on a breezy day. But some had darker interiors, and when they passed across the sun and its light temporarily dimmed and the breeze rose, a faint and transient hint of chill could be felt. It was a reminder that March has many days to run.

But it is a big sky, with room for both sun and clouds. Often the sun seemed to glide easily among and between the clouds. Often it seemed to shine with its maximum mid-March intensity.

Its light also illuminated and enhanced the whiteness of clouds in the sky’s more distant precincts. Those clouds, as they floated and drifted in the slight blue haze of the faraway sky, seemed among the first, remote reminders of warm-weather dreaminess.