Cold, Wet Summer

Heralds A Colorful Fall

By Steve Bigham

The temperature dropped to 41 degrees early Wednesday morning as the coolest summer on record continued. It last hit 40 degrees May 19, but the months of June, July, and August saw more than their share of chilly, wet days. In the Danbury/Newtown area this summer, the average temperature was 68.5 degrees – hardly beach weather.

With less than two weeks remaining in the summer of 2000, meteorologists are busy compiling statistics on temperature, rainfall, and barometric pressure. On Wednesday, Gary Lessor of the Western Connecticut State University weather center announced that this was indeed the coolest summer since the center started keeping records in 1951.

The chilly summer also ranked as one of the wettest with a total rainfall count of 18.33 inches. The wettest summer on record was in 1955 when the area got drenched by 23.39 inches.

So what does all this rain get us? According to an official with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the soggy summer weather could turn out to be a boon for the fall foliage season and mean fuller and healthier trees for the Christmas season.

The fall foliage is expected to be more colorful and last longer than in years past because of all the rain, according to Don H. Smith, Jr, director of the DEP’s forestry division.

“Because of all the rain the trees have larger leaves and more of them, and I think everyone will find the colors this year will be pretty impressive,” Mr Smith said.

He said the vast majority of trees in Connecticut will start turning color in the next two weeks. The fall foliage will peak in mid-October.

Rainfall this year is about 4.83 inches above normal, according to records at the National Weather Service at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks. Since the beginning of the year, the NWS reports the state has gotten 34.05 inches of rain.

Jeffrey Ward, extension forester for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station in New Haven, said the fall foliage will show great improvement because last year’s drought forced many of the leaves to drop off.

“We’ve had ideal growing conditions this year and the trees are healthy and will turn into some beautiful colors,” he said.

The weather is expected to warm up by the weekend with temperatures soaring into the low 80s.

So what do all these jumps in the temperature mean? Nothing, according to Mr Lessor.

“Weather is an average of extremes. Last summer’s drought was balanced by this summer’s rain. Take the average of the two and it was just two normal years,” he said.

The National Weather Service is saying New England can expect warmer-than-normal temperatures this winter. However, Mr Lessor says he has seen no evidence to support that prediction.