2021 West Coast Weather and Farming Thread

[Merrill Lindquist]

A big welcome to the new year!

The cover crop is thriving due to intermittent rains and sunny days. Temperatures are in the 50s during the day, and 30s at night. Frost just about every night/early moring.

Let's hope for one of those years that is easy to farm. No telling what it will be as of now.

[R M Kriete]

Off and running! Hope 2021 brings winter rains and a moderate summer.

[Casey Hartlip]

.16" the last 24 hours. Big f_cking woop. Guess we've got a couple of storms lining up out in the Pacific for the next few days.

Currently our property has about 30% capacity in our ponds. Really bad news.

[Casey Hartlip]

Super dog and I went for our three mile power walk today. Had my 80's cranking on the Pandora and a beautiful morning.

Cover crop is slow but steady. The peas doing really well as are the grasses. The bell beans are there but seem to move closer to spring.

[Steve Edmunds]

is Super Dog giving us the skank-eye?

[Casey Hartlip]

Well we've crossed .80" with this storm. We've had some robust showers since morning. Sun is out now but sure wouldn't get far from cover quite yet. Hopefully more on the way.

[Merrill Lindquist]

We have had huge downpours for a good part of the night and day. For much of the day we have had very heavy winds,as well. Guess it is winter!

[larry schaffer]

Loving the rain and the very cool weather down here. The vines were definitely 'dormant' - certainly a good thing. I was surprised to see someone already beginning pruning - seems a bit early, no?

Cheers.

[Casey Hartlip]

Very steady rain now. Bummer is they say this storm might only produce .25".

[Merrill Lindquist]

Loving the rain and the very cool weather down here. The vines were definitely 'dormant' - certainly a good thing. I was surprised to see someone already beginning pruning - seems a bit early, no?

Cheers.

Many of the larger ranches/vineyard management companies need to start in January in order to get all vineyards pruned well before budbreak. A small ranch like mine can get a crew in later, because it can be done so quickly and the crew can move on to other jobs.

[Grant Phillips]

Lots of rain in Oregon. Over 6.5" in December and over 3.5" so far this month. Cold and soggy days pruning the vineyard.

[Grant Phillips]

Loving the rain and the very cool weather down here. The vines were definitely 'dormant' - certainly a good thing. I was surprised to see someone already beginning pruning - seems a bit early, no?

Cheers.

Larry, when do most folks start pruning in Santa Barbara? First week of the new year pruning kicks off in earnest in the Willamette Valley.

[Casey Hartlip]

Lots of rain in Oregon. Over 6.5" in December and over 3.5" so far this month. Cold and soggy days pruning the vineyard.

Welcome to the party Grant. Would love to have a steady stream of info from Oregon. Yep, you guys getting all the rain as this f_cking high pressure dome pushes these storms north.

[Casey Hartlip]

Let me know if you've heard this before:

Good- we got .91" the last 48 hours.
Bad- 10 day dry spell on its way.

[Stewart Johnson]

My irrigation pond is empty. It's never been this dry in 20 years with this vineyard. I don't think the soil is moist past a few inches deep, so I'm a long way from being ready to start the growing season and a long way from having any runoff to collect. I've been saved by late rain before, but, right now, this is pretty grim.

[Casey Hartlip]

My irrigation pond is empty. It's never been this dry in 20 years with this vineyard. I don't think the soil is moist past a few inches deep, so I'm a long way from being ready to start the growing season and a long way from having any runoff to collect. I've been saved by late rain before, but, right now, this is pretty grim.

Dude, you just voiced everything I've been thinking about the last two months. I don't know if it makes me feel better that others are losing sleep like me. While walking Zip today I was trying to think back to '77-78 (going from memory) when California lived the first modern day severe drought.

[Casey Hartlip]

Almost crying tonight while the Pacific northwest gets pounded by more rain and even flood watches in some places. Meanwhile poor old Cali is begging for some of those problems.

[Chris Atkins]

Casey, that first modern day drought you're referring to was 1975-76 thru 1976-77, a severe two year event, which has since been eclipsed twice. 2014-15 was the fourth and final year of the worst drought in memory. Sierra Snowpack was only 5%, right on the heels of a dismal 25% snowpack the year before.

We are approaching the half way point in our water year in just a few days, with no winter storms forecast for the next week in Northern California. Rainfall here in Sonoma County is only 35% of average. The Napa River at Tubbs Lane was dry last Thursday, even after an inch of rain fell on Monday. We certainly could use a miracle late Winter and Spring, similar to Water Year 1974-75, when February and March saved us with a 150% Sierra Snowpack. Or the Miracle March of 1991 when parts of West Marin County received 20 inches of rain. Perhaps we will get lucky again!

[Merrill Lindquist]

It is 69 degrees right now at my place. January?

[Casey Hartlip]

It is 69 degrees right now at my place. January?

NOT GOOD!

[Casey Hartlip]

We got some good news today. Many of our field workers are going to get the Covid vaccine in the next few days. Certainly these folks aren't picking food crops but I think the concern is that they are some of the most at risk people in our community.

[Merrill Lindquist]

I also got good news late today - I was called to come get the vaccine. Done!

[Merrill Lindquist]

The fog is so dense this morning that it is dropping like raindrops. It is supposed to get to 73 this afternoon.

[Casey Hartlip]

Starting to feel pretty screwed. No rain. None coming in the next 10 days.

[Casey Hartlip]

Trying not to be a bummer with every post. Walked super dog today and went down some of the cover crop rows. It's really looking nice for this time of year. Peas are putting out trendrils and maybe 8" tall. You can see the beans down there but my guess is warmer soil temps will spur them on. Weather Underground is showing something next weekend......so we keep going and hope. Cheers. Pics of cover crop next time.

[larry schaffer]

We are expecting a decent amount of rain by this weekend - it's been about 90 over the past few days so we are in for a major change.

To answer the question about pruning above, the largest vineyards have certainly begun pruning due to how long it will take to complete the process. I have seen some smaller ones do the same already - or at least the part of them I can see from the road.

It seems most try to wait a little later - until February - to try to avoid the possibility of the 'f' word . . .

And just as an aside, I was speaking to someone in DC today who said the cherry trees were beginning to blossom - in January!!! Strange daze indeed.

Cheers.