Drought conditions
On these crisp September days, the red and orange fall foliage stands out even more against the bright blue sky.
If you’ve felt like fall is fall-ing early this year, you’re right. Some trees in Maine are already losing their leaves, weeks ahead of peak fall foliage season.
This summer northern New England experienced what is known as a flash drought. Unlike traditional droughts, which are primarily caused by a lack of precipitation, flash droughts are typically triggered by a combination of factors, including weather, high temperatures, winds and solar radiation.
The flash drought set into most of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont this summer, and northern New England was in moderate to severe drought by the second week of September, according to the U.S. Drought monitor.
Jay Wason, a professor of forest ecosystem physiology at University of Maine, said abnormally dry weather is stressing some vulnerable trees.
"The trees have detected that, 'Hey, conditions are not great for me anymore to maintain these expensive leaves to do photosynthesis, so I can ditch them now and go into my winter dormant mode,'" Wason said.
Overall, about two-thirds of the state is now in a severe or moderate drought. Parts of western and central Maine — which include Rumford, Lewiston and Augusta — are in extreme drought status. Since June, rains have been light and far between. This summer was the sixth highest on the record for Maine, dating back to 1895. Our neighbors in New Hampshire had their driest summer in recorded history.
To mix metaphors, the trees are just the tip of the iceberg. The arrival of an early fall is the equivalent of the canary telling us coal-miners that something isn’t quite right. As a result of drought conditions, northern New England's hydro dams are failing to generate the usual amount of power, Maine farmers are struggling and the threat of wild fires is high.
The state’s usual fall fire season, which normally runs from mid-September through October, accelerated due to dry conditions starting earlier this summer. Maine has seen almost triple its average number of wildfires this year, and the fire risk is still elevated.
According to records from the regional grid operator, ISO-New England, average daily hydropower generation went from more than 23,000 megawatt hours in June to about half that in August.
ISO-New England spokesperson Mary Kate Colapietro said environmental conditions can affect electricity production.
"That could be a variety of factors, from things like the weather, if there are, say, drought conditions that could perhaps impact what generators are making decisions on," Colapietro said.
Nick Hollister, operations manager at FirstLight, a clean energy company that owns hydropower dams in Massachusetts and Connecticut, said most conventional dams generate power from natural river flows. When river levels are low, that means electricity generation suffers, he said.
"And as a result other forms of power have to pick up the load," Hollister said. "In New England the first and most prevalent option for where that power comes from is natural gas."
Overreliance on natural gas in the New England grid has been linked to rate volatility for consumers. For example, rates spiked when the war in Ukraine began in 2022 and have been unpredictable since.
Maine Climatologist Sean Birkel said the drought's severity is driven by the warming climate. Short-term drought is fairly common here in the Northeast. But hotter weather is intensifying dry conditions, Birkel said, pointing to a heat wave in mid-August that made the drought worse.
Just because the drought came on quickly, doesn’t mean it’ll end just as quickly, said supervisor scientist Nick Stasulis of the U.S. Geological Survey.
"If we were to get one big rainstorm today, you know, a big thunderstorm that drops several inches of rain, that might make the immediate impact better on your lawn, but it's not going to improve the overall drought condition that we're in," he says.
That's because, during a drought, the ground hardens up to the point where it can't easily absorb the rainwater. Stasulis said it will take several more rainstorms to soften up the soil.
There is little rainfall in the forecast for the rest of September, meaning the drought will likely persist into the fall season.
~ Additional reporting by Peter McGuire
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If you completed the trash audit we recommended in Vol. 10 of this newsletter, you may have noticed some food scraps in the household garbage can.
Those who have been pursuing a greener lifestyle probably already know that food waste contributes to climate change. But you may not realize just how impactful changes in this sector can be.
Globally, about 8% of planet-warming emissions come from wasted food. And in the U.S., about 30-40% of food grown here is thrown away! That’s a huge chunk of the pie, no pun intended.
There are various ways to combat food waste: committing to meal-planning, shopping less and reducing food waste through methods like freezing or making broths and soups.
But try as we might, some food, or scraps like avocado pits and mango skin, will just need to be tossed. That’s where composting comes in. Instead of sending your food waste to landfill and contributing to the greenhouse gas problem (decomposing food releases methane, a greenhouse gas three times more potent than CO2), your compost will help create nutrient-rich soil.
I know many environmentally minded people who don’t compost because of the hassle, the mess, they don’t want to pay for curbside pickup or because it’s not offered in their community. If that’s you, you’re not alone! Here are a few ways to get started and to make composting easier.
🤳Call around: Some municipalities will pick up your food scraps from your home or at least have a compost option at the local dump. You can also ask local grocery stores, public libraries, restaurants, community gardens or farmers markets to see if they have programs to take food scraps; many do.
🥬Garbage to Garden provides weekly curbside pickup services for some towns in southern Maine, but it’s not free — it costs a small monthly fee. The organization does have options to volunteer, though, which can get you free pickup. And if you’re a member, you can request free bags of usable compost delivered back to you for the garden.
🧊Worried about fruit flies or smell? Keep your compost in the freezer. As someone who isn’t able to drop my compost off more than once a week (or, let’s be honest, every two weeks), this hack saved me from my enemies, flies and mold. I keep a bowl for scraps on the kitchen counter while I’m cooking, then after I’m done cooking, I dump the bowl into a bag in my freezer. Every few weeks, I take the bag from my freezer over to the community garden and toss its contents in the compost bin!
🍌Try habit-stacking: If you’re worried that composting will be just one more thing to remember to do, try linking the new behavior to an existing habit or established routine. For example, “when I go grocery shopping, I drop the compost off on the way there,” “when I go for my walk, I bring the compost to the community garden” or “when I take the dog outside, I bring my compost to the bin in my yard.”
🚮Want to DIY it? The Maine DEP has a handy guide to starting a compost heap in your own backyard (apartment or city dwellers can get in on the action, too, with vermicomposting in a 5-gallon bucket). In two months to a year, depending on the season and the weather, you can turn your own household food waste into a rich soil mixture for your garden. This could be a fun activity with kids. After all, what child can resist playing with worms?
Till next time,
Molly
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