City trees suffer from record heat

Some city trees will not be showing their fall colors this year.

Record-high heat in August and only 80 percent of normal precipitation this summer caused many trees to turn brown or even to drop all their leaves.

Though not as dramatic as threat as a hurricane toppling trees, the net effect of the relentless heat is the same.

"I call it insidious," New Jersey State Climatologist Dave Robinson said.

Queen City residents who are wondering why the landscape looks so different this year need only refer to his report posted at http://climate.rutgers.edu/stateclim/

Robinson found the summer of 2005 the warmest on record since 1895. He said the average June temperature ranked 4th warmest, July tied for 7th and August was the warmest on record.


In addition, summer rains only met 80 percent of what was expected, he said.

Unlike years in which the newspapers run photos of parched reservoirs and proclaim drought conditions, this summer only produced a drought watch.

Nevertheless, Robinson said, “This has been a real tough late summer on any new plantings that have not received watering.”

September may also weigh in as extremely warm, but Robinson said the saving grace may be that warm days are followed by cool nights, a situation not found in August because humid conditions kept nights warmer than normal.


John Louise, the city’s Superintendent of the Division of Public Works, said he has noticed the effect on city trees.

‘They are stressed,” he said. “They drop their leaves to try to conserve their energy.”

Louise said some trees may come back if conditions improve.

“We need a nice, steady rain for two or three days to saturate the ground,” he said.

Louise suggested waiting until spring to see whether individual trees would recover, rather than re-planting in fall.

Robinson said the state needs a wet winter to make up for the summer heat conditions.

“We’ve got no margin of error here,” he said.

--Bernice Paglia

KEYWORDS: trees