CARIBOU, Maine — While many farmers and gardeners are hoping for rain soon, the late July dry spell isn’t unusual, according to the National Weather Service.
So far this spring and summer, “as we’ve gone through the growing season, it’s been getting drier compared to average,” said Todd Foisy, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service Caribou station.
“May was wet throughout. June was wet some places, dry others,” Foisy said.
But in most places this July, it’s been relatively dry around northern Maine. Rainfall so far has ranged from 1.28 inches in Houlton to 2.49 inches in Caribou, according to the NWS. For Houlton, that’s 1.65 inches below average and the fifth driest July on record going back to 1948, Foisy said.
Caribou so far is less than a inch below average and could see July as its 20th driest July going back to 1939, according to the NWS. Bangor, meanwhile, has seen 1.76 inches of rain and Millinocket 1.39 inches.
“The recent dry spell is really nothing that unusual,” Foisy said. “It’s akin to a dry spell we typically see at some point each summer.”
Growers of many crops, though, are hoping the dry spell ends.
“If it doesn’t rain soon, we’ll be irrigating,” Jim Gerritsen of Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater said Monday, during a tour of the organic seed farm with the Maine Farm Bureau and American Farm Bureau president.
Some of central Aroostook County largest growers stopped waiting for rain and have been running pivot irrigation systems stretching over hundreds of feet.
Growers without irrigation may get some relief Thursday, although will face an early start to August, according to the NWS forecast.
Thursday’s forecast showers and storms “will be hit and miss, like we see a lot of times in the summer,” Foisy said. “In general, look for 1/4″ to 1/2″ inch, with some places receiving more, and some less. The next week in general looks fairly dry.”
