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September 14, 2025 - Maine Prepares to Welcome Autumn
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Today, September 14, 2025, residents of Maine and tourists, led by the Maine Pomological Society, will celebrate “Maine Apple Sunday”. This annual event marks the start of peak apple-picking season in the eastern-most state of the United States. It also honors the long heritage (more than 400 years!) and importance of apples in Maine. Old heritage varieties, like Newt Grindle and Nutting Bumpus, can be hard to come by these days, although there is a push in the state to preserve old varieties. Much more common are the newer market apples with familiar names like Lodi and Northern Spy. According to the state’s Department of Agriculture, 449 orchards, with an average size of 20 acres, produce over 1 million bushels of apples annually.
Maine Apple Sunday not only celebrates a favorite fruit, but it is also a harbinger of fall and the onset of sweater weather. When apples are harvested, can chilly temperatures and the onset of colorful autumn leaves be far behind?
On September 12, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color, late-summer image centered on the state of Maine. The image also extends to capture several parts of Canada and New England. The province of Quebec, Canada lies west of Maine and is marked by light green where forests have been cleared to create cropland and cities. New Brunswick, Canada, sits to the northeast while the U.S. state of New Hampshire abuts the western boundary of Maine.
Most of Maine’s landscape still appears quite green, despite the approach of autumn. Some color can be seen in the Boundary Mountains, near the boundary with Quebec province, and in the White Mountains of western Maine and New Hampshire. A faint flush of dark color also surrounds Mount Katahdin in northeastern Maine.
The deep green covering the majority of the state comes from forested land. Although deciduous trees (the kind that drop their leaves in the fall) are plentiful in Maine forests, conifers, which stay green year-round, are extremely abundant. The Spruce-Fir-Northern Hardwoods ecosystem covers most of the northern half of the state and, as the name implies, conifers, especially spruce and fir, are in the majority. Conifers tend to be found in the lowlands while the hardwood-dominated forest tend to predominate in higher elevations.
On September 10, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) announced the official start of 2025 fall foliage season in the state. According to the September 10 Fall Foliage Forecast, Northern Maine (zones 6 and 7) typically peaks in late September through early October. Central and western Maine follow by mid-October, with coastal and southern regions reaching peak conditions in mid-to-late October.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/12/2025
Resolutions:
1km (370.3 KB), 500m (910.4 KB), 250m (595.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Today, September 14, 2025, residents of Maine and tourists, led by the Maine Pomological Society, will celebrate “Maine Apple Sunday”. This annual event marks the start of peak apple-picking season in the eastern-most state of the United States. It also honors the long heritage (more than 400 years!) and importance of apples in Maine. Old heritage varieties, like Newt Grindle and Nutting Bumpus, can be hard to come by these days, although there is a push in the state to preserve old varieties. Much more common are the newer market apples with familiar names like Lodi and Northern Spy. According to the state’s Department of Agriculture, 449 orchards, with an average size of 20 acres, produce over 1 million bushels of apples annually.
Maine Apple Sunday not only celebrates a favorite fruit, but it is also a harbinger of fall and the onset of sweater weather. When apples are harvested, can chilly temperatures and the onset of colorful autumn leaves be far behind?
On September 12, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color, late-summer image centered on the state of Maine. The image also extends to capture several parts of Canada and New England. The province of Quebec, Canada lies west of Maine and is marked by light green where forests have been cleared to create cropland and cities. New Brunswick, Canada, sits to the northeast while the U.S. state of New Hampshire abuts the western boundary of Maine.
Most of Maine’s landscape still appears quite green, despite the approach of autumn. Some color can be seen in the Boundary Mountains, near the boundary with Quebec province, and in the White Mountains of western Maine and New Hampshire. A faint flush of dark color also surrounds Mount Katahdin in northeastern Maine.
The deep green covering the majority of the state comes from forested land. Although deciduous trees (the kind that drop their leaves in the fall) are plentiful in Maine forests, conifers, which stay green year-round, are extremely abundant. The Spruce-Fir-Northern Hardwoods ecosystem covers most of the northern half of the state and, as the name implies, conifers, especially spruce and fir, are in the majority. Conifers tend to be found in the lowlands while the hardwood-dominated forest tend to predominate in higher elevations.
On September 10, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) announced the official start of 2025 fall foliage season in the state. According to the September 10 Fall Foliage Forecast, Northern Maine (zones 6 and 7) typically peaks in late September through early October. Central and western Maine follow by mid-October, with coastal and southern regions reaching peak conditions in mid-to-late October.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/12/2025
Resolutions:
1km (370.3 KB), 500m (910.4 KB), 250m (595.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
