You’re looking at Patten Stream where it empties into Patten Bay. But the Bay is at high tide yesterday; its cresting salt water is smothering the Stream’s usually dramatic finale of fast-falling freshwater rapids cascading down the rocky shore. But that’s not nearly the most important part of the story.
Lately, that Stream’s flow has not been as dramatic as in prior years due to an extraordinary and persistent phenomenon that apparently is associated with Climate Warming. As the Washington Post of this January 20 reported: “More than two-thirds of the country is facing unusual dryness or drought, stretching from the Pacific Northwest to the East Coast, touching every state except California.”
We’re in an unusual winter drought and dry spell; the snow and rain that you’ve seen has not been absorbed. Maine is the most affected state in the Northeast:, according to yesterday’s federal U.S. Drought Monitor:
Maine is one of six states nationally with the largest percentage of their territory consumed by severe drought or worse:
The other five states are Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, New Mexico and Virginia.
(Photograph taken in Surry, Maine, on January 22, 2026.)