Rainy weather brought only limited relief to Maine over the weekend, and put a slight damper to end-of-summer plans. 

The Portland area and most of Maine received about an inch of rainfall overall, with some isolated thunderstorms in York County bringing the total rainfall closer to two inches, according to the National Weather Service in Gray. 

While the rain did alter outdoor plans for Mainers, many persisted as they tried to squeeze the last drops of summer from the season. In Portland, the Deering Center Porchfest was officially canceled by organizers due to Sunday’s wet weather, yet bands still played on covered porches and out of garages throughout the neighborhood as the rain cleared.

While Porchfest organizers did not get the 3,000 attendees they anticipated after canceling the organizational side of the event, the turnout of the hundreds from the neighborhood and bands organically finding spots to perform across Deering Center exemplified the spirit of the original Porchfests over 10 years ago, said organizer Charlie Shattuck-Heirdorn. 

“The part that was canceled was the organization. The part that was not cancelled is that we are in community and we can do what we want,” said Shattuck-Heirdorn.  

“This is exactly what Porchfest is,” he said. 

Out of Shattuck-Heirdorn’s garage on Mabel Street, his sister Becca Biggs and her band began jamming as adults greeted each other in rain jackets and swarms of children ran around in rain boots that likely had not been put to use since spring.

After a dry summer, nearly 1.2 million now live in drought areas across southern, central, western and Down East Maine. The majority entered the category of severe drought this past week, according to data released Thursday from the U.S. Drought Monitor. 

The rain over the weekend had a limited effect on the dry conditions, and is unlikely to significantly change any drought statuses in areas where the rainfall has been between 8 and 10 inches less than average. 

“Unfortunately, that’s only going to put a small dent in those large deficits,” said meteorologist Stephen Baron of the National Weather Service in Gray. 

The 1 or 2 inches will have a larger impact than it would if it had fallen a month ago during the hotter days of summer. As temperatures cool slightly into the 60s this week, the rainwater will take longer to evaporate and transpire. 

“I guess the best way to kind of think of it is more like the rain will actually stick,” said Baron. 

The weekend’s rain will also lessen fire danger for the next four to five days, said Baron. This relief comes after an unusually high number of forest fires in Maine in August, which was heightened by the dry conditions. 

Businesses across Maine have had to consider the impacts of both dry and wet weather this summer. As those in agriculture grapple with drought, for example, experience-based and outdoor businesses are wary of rain driving away customers like this spring, when 12 straight weekends of rain took a toll.

Workers keep both ends of the weather spectrum in mind at North Star Orchards in Madison, a pick-your-own orchard where visitors can choose from 20 varieties of apples to fill their baskets. Though she wishes for more rain, North Star Orchards co-owner Jennifer Dimock said the orchard had a good crop this year and opened for picking on schedule, though time will tell if the drought impacted the total harvest.

“We’re fortunate. I think that apple trees have deep roots, and it takes a while for drought to affect them,” said Dimock. 

Dimock said that while the crowds were smaller this weekend than typical because of the rain, people were still out picking Sunday. 

“We wish we could have perfect fall weather on the weekends, because we all do a lot of business on the weekends, but I’ve had a nice crowd here today, even though it’s a little wet,” said Dimock. “I think Mainers are hardy.” 

Undeterred by warnings of rain, Brian and Kaity Wells attended Biggs’ Porchfest performance with their children ages 1 and 3. This is their third year attending the homegrown festival and their third living in the Deering Center neighborhood, which they described as a hidden gem of community. After seeing that Porchfest was officially canceled, they soon figured out that the event was not entirely off. 

“It was clearing up, and I wondered if people were outside still doing music,” said Brian Wells. 

“Everybody was still ready to listen to some music and to salvage what we can,” he said. 

Despite the weekend of rain, the next week has an virtually no chance of precipitation, forecasted Baron. He said making up for the rain that was lacking this summer will require a global weather pattern shift to bring low pressure system into the area that would allow for more substantial rain. 

The cooling weather ahead will allow any rainfall to stick around and soak in longer, with the hope that more substantial precipitation comes before the weather gets too cold. Baron said that rainfall after the ground freezes does not ease the dry conditions.

“Once (freezing) happens, the water can’t get into the ground, and then it’s just running off and not contributing,” said Baron. 

“As long as it’s able to soak into the ground, that’s a good thing,” he said.