Has the Insanely Wet Summer Ruined Maine’s Upcoming Fall Foliage Season?

Maine Summer 2023

Ask any Mainer or tourist from away to describe summer in Vacationland for 2023 in one word, and you'll probably get three.

It. Never. Came.

What was often referred to as a long, humid spring, based on the fact the "April Showers" never seemed to end, seemingly screwed us out of an actual summer, and now here we are knocking on the door of fall. Granted, fall really is New England's time to shine, but one question remains because of all the rain we've had over the last few months.

Is Maine's Fall Foliage Season Ruined?

As happens every year around mid-September, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry dropped the very first Maine Fall Foliage Report. But that said, you don't need the report to know that pretty much every leaf still sitting on trees is greener than goose poo.

Just take a look outside.

However, that said, even after the very green first Maine Fall Foliage Report as well as seeing with your own eyes the amount of green still on the trees, it doesn't necessarily mean that all the rain we've been hammered with the last few months is going to hurt leaf peeping season. If anything, according to the first report, it will only help us.

This summer, Maine received a considerable amount of rainfall which will enhance the fall colors, unlike the past two seasons when the state's forests were impacted by summer drought.

For comparison, when looking back at the first Fall Foliage Report of the year for 2022 -- which came out on September 14, 2022 -- the report looked the exact same as this year's first report. In fact, it was pretty much the same for the 2021 first Fall Foliage Report as well, except Zones 6 and 7 in Northwestern and Northeastern Maine showed a bit of low color change.

Typically, we start seeing the leaves change significantly in the final week of September as we approach peak foliage. And if this year's first report is any indication, we may see the brightest foliage we have in a long time.