PORTLAND, Maine — It's no secret that Mother Nature has been dumping rain on Maine all summer long.
That trend is continuing into early fall and it's coming at the worst time for some farmers.
"We had the hurricane come in. That was on a Saturday," Aaron Libby, owner of Libby and Son U-Pick, said. "It seems like all these rain events happen on the weekends, and just like Maine seasonal businesses, you make all your sales on the weekend. So for us, the fall weekends are a huge, huge part of the majority of our sales."
Libby's family has been growing fruit on this farm since the 1940s. It's a family tradition that, like all farmers, is at the mercy of Maine's fickle weather patterns.
Like too much rain, droughts can also cause major problems.
"A drought can stress beyond your systems, and if the trees can be stressed, then not only will this year’s crop be affected, but all the fruit’s already been set for next year’s crop," Libby said. "So you can lose next year’s crop on a drought year as well, so a drought year can affect multiple years and even lose trees forever."
But this year has been the complete opposite.
"The volume of rain is what’s been really eye-opening, too, not just the rain events, how much rain inches that’s been coming in on days," Libby said.
Libby says every farmer needs rain, even at the end of the growing season. In a perfect world, Libby still wants another inch or two a week right now.
The Portland Jetport recorded nearly five inches of rain in September. It also rained the last two weekends in September, plus this weekend.
Wet weekends hurt businesses that rely on family visits.
"There’s not enough time, not enough availability. A lot of families have such busy lifestyles—they had that one day earmarked to go apple picking and if they lost that day… they’re disappointed, but we lost out on a huge economic boom," Libby said.
Libby says climate change extremes are what's hurting the crops the most. Going from record cold to relentless rainfall is a new normal that trees haven't adapted to.
"Boring is best, for orchard growing, boring is best," Libby said.
The forecast calls for typical cool, fall days this week before a "second summer" to end the month. It's not what some farmers want to hear at the end of October.