The summer has been a dry one for some areas of the state, particularly in the southwest, which has experienced a severe drought this year. Maine’s next season, leaf peeping, may also take a hit.
“With less water you get less transpiration, you get less food being made by the leaves, so there’s less sugars, so you have a little less byproduct showing up as color,” says Dave Struble with the Maine Forest Service.
Struble says leaf displays in areas of the state that have been thirsting for water may be more low key than usual.
“It’s possible that we won’t see the brilliance overall, on average, that we would otherwise have seen, so the colors may be a little more muted,” he says.
But the upside, says Struble, is that the dry conditions have cut down on other foliar diseases that can cause spots to form and leaves to curl up and drop off.
And he says while the south has been dry, the northern half of Maine has seen decent rainfall and should experience excellent leaf displays.
The state will post regular leaf updates at mainefoliage.com.
