The weather reports in the snowy east coast claim that all the water from Hawaii to the mainland has decided to up and dump itself between San Francisco and Santa Rosa. Obviously a good thing to reduce the risk of another devastating fire loss, but how about the vineyards? Inquiring people who have to worry about whether to heat their cellars want to know.
Cats and dogs pair well with pineapple.
The concern would be with Vineyards that had very early Bud break. If flowering was occurring, the rain would not be a really good thing, especially with wind. I think it’s too early for that though.
I am worried about flooding and the potential for mudslides. Sending positive thoughts and prayers to my friends up north.
Snowpack and water is still less than normal. I don’t know about Napa, but in the Bay Area the rain isn’t all that bad, mostly just gloomy days and drizzle, nothing like east coast rain.
rained steadily in Kenwood/Glen Ellen from around 5:00 pm Thursday night, to about 4:00 am Saturday. nothing torrential in this area, just good, steady rainfall. not sure exactly how much we picked up, but nowhere near the 4" number being thrown around earlier in the week.
It was a good rain storm, we got 2" down in Fremont (south bay) over the past two days, and weather reports showed higher than that in most north bay locations. But no reports of any major flooding, most rivers and creeks were relatively low to start, and never hit flood stage that I’ve heard. Also haven’t heard about any serious mudslides in fire zones, but those reports could come in today. I can’t imagine any vineyards being anywhere close to flowering, so I’d say this is just a good, welcome rain that will help move us up a bit in a still below normal rainfall season.
Storm totals ranged from 2" to 4.5" (4.5" around Sebastopol, ~3" in Anderson Valley) in most places North of the Bay Area, which brings us to ~80% of normal rain to date.
Plenty of rain in Southern Sonoma County up through Santa Rosa but just minor street flooding. Was not particularly windy either. Drove through some fire zones yesterday for a meeting in Santa Rosa and saw only street flooding.
Too early in the season for any shatter. Came down steady up here from Thursday evening through Friday around 3pm, then again from 8pm til the morning. 3-4” avg in the area total from the two days. Localized flooding in the usual low spots. Nothing new, vineyards are fine, lots of runoff, my property has lots of standing water and also flowing out of gophers holes. Typical for storms in March/April.
I was looking for somewhere to post these…
KQED
“Californians Go Back to Using About as Much Water as Before the Drought”
by Emily Guerin
April 2, 2018
"Since Gov. Jerry Brown called off California’s drought emergency a year ago, we Californians seem to have gotten a little lazy when it comes to water conservation.
“…Statewide, Californians are using 18 percent more water than at the same time in 2017 — nearly the same amount as before the drought emergency was declared.”
KQED
“Wine Lovers: Relax, Study Suggests Calif. Grapevines Can Weather Searing Drought”
by Amel Ahmed
January 31, 2018
"…Scientists who looked at vineyards in California’s Napa Valley and the Bordeaux region of France found that in times of drought, the grapevine’s resistance actually increased as the season progressed.
"The study*, conducted over a period of ten years, found that the grapevines were not at risk of dying from ‘even very dry conditions.’
"That means farmers may not need to water their vineyards as much as previously thought during a dry spell. It also could mean better-tasting wine.
"‘One of the triggers of ripening occurs when stress is present such as a dry spell,’ says Paul Skinner, a co-author of the study and a vineyard consultant at Vineyard Investigations. ‘It serves to slow down the growth of the vine vegetatively and when the vine stops growing, that is directly connected to the ripening of the fruit.’
"The study sets the practical limits of when grapevines die without water, says Skinner. ‘This is about trying to figure out how to manage vines during periods of drought. We need to know what these limits are in order to manage risks.’
"…During severe droughts, plants often die from embolism. It occurs when plants are deprived of water, causing tension in the plant as it starts to convert water into gas. The resulting air bubbles impede the passage of water within the plant, causing it to increase in thirst and potentially die.
“‘When plants are well watered, they will never experience embolism,’ Skinner told KQED. ‘It’s a result of extreme drought. And a purpose of this study was to quantify what the threshold is for mortality in a grapevine during a drought.’
Though total precipitation might not decrease with California’s changing climate, scientists say to expect more severe droughts when they do occur. The study looked at what levels of drought would be enough to cause a degree of embolism sufficient to kill grapevines.
“‘We looked at the level of drought and we looked at Napa and found that their vines never reach that level,’ says Gregory Gambetta, a professor of viticulture at Bordeaux Sciences Agro and the study’s principle investigator.
"…Skinner says the study will also allow farmers to adopt techniques to weather climate change.
“‘It might prove to be very valuable for land owners who do not want to lose their physical vineyards and plant something else,’ he suggests. ‘I think it will lead to more refinements in what we do, rather than major changes.’
"Gambetta adds that vineyards are normally productive for twenty to forty years and require a significant amount of financial investment. The study’s findings suggest that farmers might not have to abandon their crop during a dry spell.
“‘In California, during these drought periods,’ he says, ‘farmers regulate the amount of water they get and sometimes they make decisions to essentially whip out vineyards, thinking they will probably die anyway. So there is question of, “Did they have to?”’
"Gambetta cautions, however, that the study’s findings do not mean farmers should stop watering their vineyards.
“‘It simply sets thresholds that we did not know before, that we could not quantify precisely,’ he points out. ‘Now, we can say that these are the levels of stress that vines can endure during a period of drought. That sets a bar for farmers.’
“‘We found that the vines were very resilient and we now know what range we are operating in,’ adds Skinner. ‘Hopefully we can find ways to save water by adopting some of the information in this study as a guide.’”
*Study: “Drought Will Not Leave Your Glass Empty: Low Risk of Hydraulic Failure Revealed by Long-Term Drought Observations in World’s Top Wine Regions”. [u]Science Advances, 31[/u]. Jan, 2018
The Confluence: Blog of the California Institute for Water Resources
UC Ag & Natural Resources
“How Are California Water Managers Thinking About Climate Change? It Depends”
by Faith Kearns
April 4, 2018
"When it comes to using climate change science to help guide decisions, researchers have found that California water managers fall into three fairly distinct groups based on how they work with scientific information and how they think about the future. While some water managers are actively using climate change science, others are not using it at all. In between these two extremes is a group that uses some climate information, but tends to defer to politics in decision-making.
"As part of a research team, Zeke Baker and Julia Ekstrom of University of California, Davis interviewed drinking water utility managers in California to better understand their perspectives on extreme events like droughts and floods. The team wondered how water managers were preparing for both the events they are seeing today and those they expect to see with a changing climate.
“‘The most interesting part of this study to me is that it seems like climate science is not reaching one particular group of water managers, largely those managing small water systems that often serve rural communities,’ says Ekstrom.
"In addition, Ekstrom says the fact that a large group of drinking water managers are not considering climate change at all could intensify existing inequities. Many rural communities in California are already at a disadvantage in terms of the resources and political power needed to adapt to climate change.
“…‘Here, we were really trying to understand the kind of cultural contexts and barriers that face water managers so that we can perhaps better tailor information for them,’ says Baker, concluding that ‘it seems an economic metaphor is not sufficient for capturing the complex ways that climate change is being considered among water managers.’ More importantly, he says, ‘we may need to better understand the role of things like distrust in scientific information or social conflicts as bigger barriers.’”[/i]
Interesting Drew!
And of course in the Central Valley, they still have all those signs about building more dams and forgetting about trains.
It’s very good for filling irrigation ponds/reservoirs and for soil moisture levels in well drained vineyards.
Kind of as good as it gets. Over 3 inches on a pretty dry year AND no real serious threat of frost as it’s been a pretty warm storm. Win/win.
Prior to this storm, Napa’s ground water table was back to “normal,” and I hope they meant close to full capacity. A number of people I know had to dig new or deeper wells over the last 4 years. A “reclaimed” water line was also installed between Napa Sanitation and the Coombsville area where ground water levels were at the lowest or non-existent. This latest rain can only help as far as ground water and here in Napa. There really wasn’t any flooding so the ground wasn’t all that saturated. I haven’t heard of any slides or slippage in the areas of last year’s fires.