New England is renowned for it's kaleidoscope of autumn colors, and, even though we're a little biased, we think Maine puts on the best show of all. But with record rains this summer, leaf peeping season might not be quite so bright.
Between June and August, the Bangor area broke the record for the most consecutive days of rain and overall precipitation events over 1 inch have been well above average. All that precipitation means our trees got a little too much water this year, which puts them under stress and changes the way the leaves react.
Think of it like watercolors - add too much water and the colors are less vivid. All of the precipitation we got changed the ratio of water to sugar in the leaves, so the colors may be diluted.
On the plus side? All the extra water is helping the trees hold onto their leaves, so the leaf peeping season will be a little longer this year - 5 to 6 weeks according to NewsCenter Maine's Aaron Myler.
No matter how much rain we got, autumn is sure to still be spectacular, so grab your sweater and a pumpkin spiced latte, check the Maine Foliage Report, and enjoy the season (it'll be cold before ya know it!).