2012 East Coast Weather & Vintage Thread

Okay, Okay, I’ll start another.

2012 started balmy but our first artic blast is now upon us. Howling cold winds all night and continuing this morning. A 20 foot, 10 inch diameter sycamore limb came down over night and was blocking part of the road as I drove in earlier.

Snow this morning. Came in and left fast. About a half inch. 15F tonight. I’m heading south.

Thanks for starting this again Jeff. Northeast has been warm with 50s a couple days back. Saw forsythia in bloom again! Today the temperature has been steadily going down and will hit single numbers to 0 F in some areas. Wind chill is what is difficult to take. Will rebound by Friday into the 40s. Precipitation thus far has been all rain in southern New England. Haven’t brought out the snow shovel yet…doh! Jinxed myself again…Happy New Year all !

Cold rain here today, a wet 41F. Chilling to the bone. Would rather it be snow. Making headway into pile on my desk.

Snow is in tonight’s forecast, possibly 1 to 2 inches. Sunny and in the mid 50’s today.

Heavy rain, thunder, & lightning in southern New England today. The rain and super high tides brought in coastal flooding again…luckily nothing major. Temps near 45F which is incredible for mid January. Winter maybe a no show this year ! I’m tired of shoveling snow anyways.

25F at 6AM with a forecasted high today of 36F. Yesterday, fierce winds blew but it’s calmed down now. Fine pruning started on Wednesday. I’m heading out for a sunny and brisk day of it. A couple of hot eggs and bacon first. [snort.gif]

Great day cane pruning yesterday. We finished our young Merlot and started on some young Cabernet Franc vines. Knees do take a beating as the fruiting wire is only 18 inches off the ground. We leave the canes a little long right now and make one final cut when tying them down in March.

Fortuitous weather we are having, with lows in the 20’s, currently at 18. I’ve moved a couple barrels of Late Harvest Petit Manseng outside to cold stabilize naturally…and cheaply. [thumbs-up.gif]

I spoke too soon about winter being a no show. It is now single digits at night and teens & twenties during the day. I get relief in a greenhouse during winter for plant propagation work where it’s 80F inside while teens outside. However, this morning I’m heading out for a long beach walk while the thermometer registers 10F…saving grace is that there is no wind.

Ice, sleet, snow and rain today and Sunday. Temps down into the mid 20s. Warmer by Monday, up into the mid 50’s…wacky. Bottled our 2011 SB yesterday, 527 cases including 40 cases of 375’s. Grassy, tropical, very crisp with moderate alcohol at 12.7%. These grapes came in before the September rains.

Our mild winter continues, although it’s 28F this early morning. But we’ve not seen any single digits this year and are running about 10 degrees warmer than usual for this time of the year. This makes one concerned, not about an early bud break which probably will happen if this trend continues, but more catastrophic would be a sudden deep freeze as the bud and plant vascular tissue is not as cold hardy as it was back in December. This of course is all “what ifs” and nothing has happened yet but thinking about the possibilites allows mind games to play, late at night, when you’re weak and most vulnerable. I recently awoke to my first 2012 vineyard nightmare. I’m in the vineyard, it’s January and we still have much to prune. But what’s this? Green shoots are everywhere and in need of thinning and tucking already…PANIC!! Then the comfort of coming to my awake senses. All is well.

We are almost finished pruning our young vineyard, a little over 1.5 acres of Cabernet to go. Then it’s on to the old vineyard, 6 acres of open lyre. In the cellar we’re cold stabilizing 3 wines to be bottled in March and about to begin blending trials of our 2011 reds. Just got building plans in the hands of a few prospective contractors. We’re expanding the building this year, adding two 20 by 30 foot rooms, one below grade for fermenting and barrel aging reds and one above grade for tax paid case storage.

Having sustained rain this morning…but would have made a beautiful snow storm had it not been 72F yesterday…the first [swearing.gif] day a February.

Snow! It’s actually snowing! Started last night and is continuing this early morning. Very light, still not covering the grass and also not sticking to road surfaces. But we’ll take it. Supposed to be around 28F tonight. Just back from Charlottsville, attending the Winter Technical Meeting of the Virginia Vineyards Association. Lot’s of good information this year. One thing reported by our State Viticulturalist was that cold hardiness tests were conducted on sample buds and they were good down to below zero. So all this warm winter weather we’ve been having has not started the thawing of our vines. Knock on hardy wood. [highfive.gif]

It’s February and Japanese Cherry trees and daffodils are blossoming in Washinton DC. A little snow here last night and today, 19F tonight. Wacky start to 2012. 1.5 acres to prune then lots of tying before a most likely early spring. Always exciting, farming!

Pruning is complete…yippee! Tying has begun with most vines getting one final snip to adjust the length of the cane. The weather continues to be mild and dry and it’s looking more and more like an earlyish start to 2012. Early means April 1st, normal means April 15th and late means April 30th. We’ll be ready.

One of our Eastern Meadowlarks has returned this early morning and is calling out for love. Winter…what we had of one, is fading and Spring is happening!

Our winery mockingbird has returned, singing from the top of the cupola yesterday morning. 70’s this week, near 80 today. Upper 40’s at night. Buds are all still hard and tight, though. Only Cabernet Sauvignon still to tie.
It’s beginning to look a lot like springtime! flirtysmile

The weather today was unbelievable here in Delaplane…Don’t know if we set any records but I’m sure we were close. The 10 day forecast is for temps at least 10-20 degrees above normal so I’m pretty sure we’re looking at a very early budbreak. Still lots to do.

March 15, 2012…currently 81F. At least it’s not humid…but that’s coming soon. We’re down to an acre of Cab still to tie. Pruning cuts are dripping. Next 7 days looks twenty degrees above normal. Still, buds are tight. I’m guessing April 1st for Merlot/Cabernet Franc.