We've had one of the hottest summers on record in the Northeast this year, and we've had very little rainfall at my house. The result seems to be an early fall for us. There has been a bit of rain in some of the areas around us, but it seems to have missed us each time.
The sour gum trees are usually first to change color in our woods in the fall. They become a beautiful bright red, and they usually start to show color in August. I saw the first leaves turn on the sour gums during the last week of July this year and the sweet gum trees are going yellow already. Way too soon.
The sweet pepperbush was in flower and covered with bees and butterflies during the last 2 weeks of July. Now the leaves are droopy and brownish-yellow. The understory of wild blueberry usually turns into a lovely, endless bank of red sometime in October. It's already starting to go brown.
Some of the oaks have started to drop their leaves. That doesn't usually happen until November or December. There is sure to be a poor crop of acorns this year, which is bad news for the squirrels, chipmunks and mice.
Too hot. Too dry. We need rain.
8 comments:
Mice will be trying to get in for food.
Our heat is back up, 109 tomorrow, but back to cool nights (77).
JoeinVegas-
You're right about the mice. I'll have to keep a watch for that.
109!!! I have no reason to complain; our hottest temperature was 104. It's the humidity out here that makes it so hard to take. Today is cooler, but still no rain.
Our heat index was at 105 today. But we had a few weeks where it rained a lot, so we're still in pretty good shape.
I have heard from my family that even in Virginia they are in desperate need of rain.
It seems a shame that in some parts of the world it is flooding and others are suffering from drought!
Virginia Gal-
I'm really surprised that we are not under water restrictions. I think it's just because we have a careless governor in office who has absolutely no interest in environmental issues. The acorns are dropping now, at least a month early. They are tiny, just little acorn caps with, at most, a green acorn the size of a raisin. Some are all cap, no acorn. I usually have to work hard to keep Muttley from trying to eat them, but not this year. He's taking no notice of them.
we saw allot of changing leaves on the way back to FL and it has been raining ever since we got back here! YUCK
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