3300 ha of vines destroyed:
https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2019/12/third-of-adelaide-hills-vineyards-lost-in-wildfires/
Thankfully this does not include the Hill of Grace or Mount Edelstone vineyards which are in Eden Valley.
So awful.
Awful fire season 5 million hectares burnt across the country. That’s 50000 square kilometres. Last Friday was apocalyptic. Here it was 46C (114F) with 60 km/h winds. Thoughts are with those who have lost vineyards. Just shocking.
I heard it was apocalyptic
crazy
So sorry for those who lost these great vineyards. Tragic.
Vineyards are usually firebreaks. But not under those conditions. So sad.
I know that in the case of David Bowley of Vinteloper what wasn’t mentioned in the article was it wasn’t just his vineyards. He lost his home as well.
Kent’s label “Apocalyptic” was absolutely accurate. It was terrible in Melbourne on Friday, and if it is terrible in Melbourne it is usually worse in Adelaide.
I’ve checked some local Australian coverage and its is horrifying.
Paul and Kent, I hope you are both safe … and hope this ends soon.
Uggh. How awful.
I was thinking the same thing. In the California fires, it seemed that the edge of the vineyards were singed, but the fire didn’t really progress into the rows of vines. What was different in Australia?
My thoughts are with Stephen and Prue and all of the others have have been affected by the terrible fires right throughout Australia.
Another mate of mine, Geoff Weaver, had to jump in his dam to survive. Sadly he lost around 30% of his vineyard as well as copping damage to the winery.
It has been an awful fire season, with extremely dangerous conditions expected in the next few days.
[imghttps://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/12/photo-of-koala-and-firefighter-surrounded-by-flames-perfectly-captures-the-climate-emergency/[/img]
Photo of the year.
John,
That is a difficult one to answer. Many of the Adelaide Hills vineyards are surrounded by bush in quite hilly and undulating terrain. We have been experiencing a very dry period, rainfall deficits around 200 to 300mm this year.
The weather on that fateful day was the perfect storm of low humidity (6 to 9%), high winds, gusts running to 80km/hr and high heat. max temps were between 41C and 49C (33C minimum temps). When a fire gets going in those conditions, nothing will stop it. It was spotting three miles ahead of the front. I am amazed that more lives were not lost. I was there in 1983 for Ash Wednesday and the conditions were worse last week, something that I thought would never happen. Our max temperature here was 2.6 C (5F) above any recorded temperature here in 80 yrs of record keeping. My Portuguese laurel hedge is a crisp brown, just from the blow torch effect of the wind. Thank goodness warning systems and information is light years ahead of what is was 30 yrs ago or else many, many more lives would have been lost.
Kent - I suppose it’s those temperatures. Sheesh, that’s hot! It was hot and had been very dry during the devastating fires in Northern and Southern California last year, and there were nasty winds (50mph/80kmh sustained, and much higher gusts), but I don’t believe the temperatures were ever anywhere near 41C to 49C (106F to 120F).
On further consideration john the abundance of natural eucalypts may also be a major factor. The oils in the trees are seen to explode some distance ahead of a fire front. Fire intesity in 1983 was said to be 60,000W/m2 and the fire front reached 2000 degrees centigrade.
Eucalyptus are definitely A major fuel for fire. The 1991 Oakland hills fire here in the Bay was evidence of that (lots of eucalyptus in those hills).
Heartbreaking to read about your fires; also interesting to see them so early in the season relative to our fire season.
Yes, the eucalyptus – Australia’s incendiary gift to California. (They were transplanted there and thrived.)
As Alan said, they have been a major a peril in California. (I lived in San Francisco at the time of the 1991 Oakland/Berkeley fire.) One of the upshots of the '91 conflagration, which destroyed hundreds of homes, was fewer eucalyptus trees and much more care given to the accumulation of dead leaves.
Definitely early for us too. January can be bad and February is often worse. The heat has come early this year as November was much hotter than normal.