September 18, 1999
Another round of very heavy rains fell across the Northeast on Wednesday (9/15), Thursday (9/16), and Friday (9/17) thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Floyd. 1999 has brought two extremes to the Northeast, drought for much of the Spring and Summer, and now flooding from the remnants of Hurricanes Dennis and Floyd. Below is a summary of the rainfall reports from Floyd for the states in The Foliage Network:
Maine: Over 4 inches
New Hampshire: Over 5 inches
Vermont: In excess of 6" in spots
New York: Over 12 inches just south of Albany
Massachusetts: Up to 6"
Rhode Island: Up to 6"
Connecticut: Up to 9 inches
New Jersey: Over 13 inches
Pennsylvania: Up to 11 inches
Once again, the heavy rains have slowed the transformation of the leaves. In addition to the rain, warm temperatures have also delayed the onset of the colors. With the passing of Floyd, northwest winds took over, ushering in cool, crisp, Canadian air which is favored for great foliage.
In addition to copious amounts of rain, Floyd also brought windy conditions which have led to leaf drop throughout the Northeast. However, again it was the young and distressed trees which have already shown advanced color that were affected the most. A majority of the trees still have very healthy leaves which, for the mostpart, withstood the recent windy conditions.
