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September 26, 2007

Weather update: Dry and hot equals poor fall color

Journal photo/ Bill Murphy
Today's sunrise over Lincoln Woods signals that another hot day is on the way. But the morning's golden color is deceptive -- it's not likely to translate into the season's sought-after foliage.

“New England color is terrible.”

When a statement like that -- about the changing leaves -- comes from a horticulture professor, it’s worth listening to.

Brian Maynard, who is such a professor at the University of Rhode Island, says the prolonged dry weather spells bad news for leaf-peepers who will find brown leaves -- if they find any at all – on many of the trees that should be changing color between now and late October, peak leaf season in Rhode Island.

But it’s not just the Ocean State that’s out of luck. Maynard said he was at a conference last week, and “all throughout New England, everyone is saying it’s the worst season,” he said.

One bright spot, he said, is swampy land, “especially coming out of Massachusetts into Pawtucket,” he said, and “off Route 4 in South County, it’s coloring up right.”

For a look at foliage reports around the region, try this Web site.
For others, the situation may be even more dire than lack of autumn color.

Maynard’s recommendation for people trying to keep a tree alive: Set a sprinkler near the root system and give it four solid hours of watering.

The region is due for some rain tomorrow night and Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service. But dry – albeit cooler – weather should return Friday afternoon.

“Instead of the upper 80s and 90s,” Charles Foley at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass., said, “We’re looking at temperatures you would expect at the end of September, generally around 70 degrees.”

But we still had to get through today, where the high of 89 degrees tied the record for this day recorded in 1930 and in years prior to that, the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass., said.
The temperature, taken at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick as a benchmark for the area, came around 2 p.m.

Earlier, before it was confirmed, Foley said: “I think we’ll challenge the record,” or at least, "we’ll come close."

Posted by Brandie Jefferson  at 11:30 AM | Permalink

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Maria | September 26, 2007 3:13 PM link

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