Trees turning colour and dropping leaves due to drought-like conditions
Windsor received only 13 mm of rain during the first two weeks of August
Trees across Windsor-Essex that are starting to turn colour and drop their leaves may have some wondering whether we're in for an early fall, but environmental experts say dry weather is to blame.
Cottonwoods, sycamores, basswoods and even some oaks are already taking on an autumn look, according to Phil Roberts from the Essex County Field Naturalists Club, but drought-like conditions, not an early equinox are behind the transformation.
The centre of the county is actually very dry.- Phil Roberts from the Essex County Field Naturalists Club
August is shaping up to be the driest month in a summer that has been short on rain from the start, according to Environment Canada meteorologist Geoff Coulson, who explained there were only 13 mm of rain in Windsor during the first two weeks of the month.
That lack of precipitation comes after equally parched weather in June and July, where a third less rain than usual fell on the region. Still, Coulson is not prepared to label the conditions a "drought."
"Given the fact there's so many definitions of drought we tend to steer clear of that and kind of stick with the numbers," he said. "Certainly when I looked at places like Ridgetown and Sarnia and Harrow, pretty much all of these places are showing similar trends — Ridgetown in particular is even drier than what we've seen in the Windsor area."
Some crops benefitting from scattered showers
Roberts said there's some good news when it comes to rain — light showers have kept area soybean crops looking strong, but not every part of the region has been so lucky.
"Those little short rains you know help out some of those agricultural crops, but we haven't had really much volume in rain where we get good penetration of ground," he explained. "There are certain areas of the county that really are quite droughty. The centre of the county is actually very dry."