Vadim Popov and son Ezra, of Windham, sit among the sunflowers on an antique tractor parked at Pumpkin Valley Farm during the annual Sunflower Fest on Sunday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Maybe your garden’s tomatoes and sunflowers were late this summer thanks to so much rain and so many clouds, but there was one perk: The stormy weather kept things cooler, cutting down on the need for air conditioners.
And yet, Portland recorded its warmest July on record because the same cloud cover that kept things cool during the day also made it warmer at night, said National Weather Service meteorologist Sarah Thunberg.
This summer, the average temperature for Portland was 66.7 degrees, with a low of 43 and a high of 89. Portland’s 30-year average temperature for June, July and August – considered the meteorological summer because they are typically the hottest months – is 67.5 degrees.
“We never got to 90 degrees (this summer) in Portland, which is very unusual,” Thunberg said. “The last time that happened was in 2014.”
This summer will also go down as the seventh wettest on record in Portland, she said.
Portland received 17.23 inches of rain – 5.68 inches in June, 5.75 inches in July and 5.8 inches in August – significantly higher than the average of 11.15 inches.
Labor Day weekend seemed more like early August than early September, with sun and temperatures that climbed into the 80s.
Pumpkin Valley Farm owner Keith Harris harvests sunflowers Sunday during Sunflower Fest. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
On Sunday, at the fifth annual Sunflower Festival at Pumpkin Valley Farm in Dayton, farmer Keith Harris said when it was time to plant sunflowers in early July, “it was questionable.”
“This year, being very wet, it was a very difficult growing season,” he said Sunday, standing in front of acres of round, yellow and brown flowers.
The sunflower festival, which continues Monday and Sept. 8-10, offers music, food, farm animals and games. Sunflowers “are happy flowers,” Harris said. “They make you smile.”
He was fortunate, he said, that the soil allowed the flowers to grow beautifully this year. “These are the best we’ve ever grown.” Harris’ farm planted 100,000 sunflower seeds on 2½ acres. On Sunday, the acres held thousands of sunflowers providing a scenic backdrop, which festivalgoers took advantage of by taking photo after photo.
Vaughn Holland, 4, points at a bee on a sunflower while walking through Pumpkin Valley Farm with his mother Mackenzie Holland during Sunflower Fest. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
All plants – especially corn, pumpkins and sunflowers – need water, ideally an inch a week, Harris said. But while sunflowers need water, “they need dry feet,” he said. “The soil we’re on is conducive to growing.”
Portland’s wet summer was delivered by a near-record number of days with rain. According to the National Weather Service, Portland received a measurable precipitation on 46 days this summer, half of the summer’s 92 days. Portland’s summer rainy days did not break a record, but it was a close second.
The most summer days of rain in Portland was 47 in 1938. The historical average number of rainy days in summer is 32, Thunberg said.
Augusta, however, did break a record.
This summer, Augusta saw 52 days of rain, breaking the previous mark of 47 in 2009.
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