From wildfires to wells going dry, to farmers’ crops struggling and lawns burning up, this summer’s lack of rainfall was noticeable everywhere you looked here in the Maritimes.
And the question I’m asked most is: Was this a record dry summer season?
As with most weather-related questions, it really depends on where you live.
Summer rainfall is difficult to generalize. Thunderstorms can bring a huge shot of rain locally, yet not a single drop just a few kilometres up the road.
And when we’re talking about summer, it’s any rain that falls from June 1 to Aug. 31, and so an early June or late August system can really tip the scales of the record books, even if conditions are super dry in between.
All that said, when we look back at the summer of 2025, it was certainly drier than normal across most of the region. One area, however, stands out as exceptionally dry.
For northwestern areas of Nova Scotia and southern New Brunswick, this summer was certainly one of the driest on record, with total rainfall near half — or even less than half — of average.
In this area, including along the Bay of Fundy, the Annapolis Valley and Cobequid Bay, into places like Hants and Cumberland counties, and down into Kejimkujik National Park and northern Yarmouth County, summer rainfall only added up to less than 125 millimetres, based on both official station and volunteer recordings.
Conditions were most extreme in Digby County, northern Annapolis County, coastal Charlotte County and Grand Manan where less than 100 millimetres of rain was recorded.
For some official Environment Canada stations in this area, including Saint John, Fundy Park, Point Lepreau, Grand Manan and Kejimkujik National Park, this was indeed the driest summer on record. Notably, records date all the way back to 1870 in Saint John.
For other official locations like Greenwood, Nappan, Debert, Yarmouth and even the Halifax airport, this summer lands right near the top of the driest list along with the summers of 2016, 2005, 2001, 1997 and 1960.
The Acadian Peninsula region was also extremely dry and recorded less than 100 millimetres throughout the summer season.
Elsewhere in the Maritimes, it was certainly dry — and continues to be drier than average now that we’re into September.
As drought conditions persist for most of the region, we’ll need an overall pattern change and multiple low-pressure systems bringing days of rainfall to erase the deficits from this summer.
