Here’s Why Maine Could See a Boom in Tourism This August

Maine and tourism in the summer months go hand-in-hand. If you've traveled on the Maine Turnpike on a weekend over the past couple months, you know there's been plenty of cars and traffic. But all of Maine's coastal towns, beaches, shops, restaurants, hiking destinations, and more could be seeing even more traffic this August. And it's all thanks to the weather.

For almost the entirety of summer so far, Maine has been stuck in a weather pattern that has been murky at best. The unsettled pattern has featured thick humidity, tons of cloud cover, and higher chances for severe weather. That has left many visitors to Maine cutting their stay short or not coming at all.

Like a light switch, August has rolled in with what could be considered a "normal" stretch of summer weather in Maine: light humidity, plenty of sun in the forecast, and very little chance for extreme weather. If you believe the long-range forecasts from the National Weather Service, that is likely to continue throughout the month.

Those long-range forecasts are promising another month in the furnace for most of the country. Extreme heat will be the story in the Pacific Northwest and Deep South. Meanwhile, Northern New England is predicted to have average or below-average temperatures and only average humidity for this time of year. That's music to the ears of tourists.

It's reasonable to expect that beaches, restaurants, hiking trails, and campgrounds will all see a bump in people trying to avoid the extreme heat while enjoying the last full month of summer. The air conditioners will get a rest, but your patience may not.