That was brutal last night - when the front came through around 8ish it was like a hurricane in Coombsville.
HWY 101 closed north of Ukiah this morning. We only had 1.70 inches the last 24 hours. Hoping for much more. I too very concerned about floods and debris flows from fire areas. The hits just keep coming for those poor folks.
Agreed - it was wild! Actually have a bit of sun this morning
We had intense rain, but less than expected and the same for the Santa Cruz mountains. That’s great news for the SCM burned areas, they received 2.5-3 inches which undoubtedly caused issues, but the prediction was for as many as 10-12".
The system moved to the south, mostly over Monterey county.
-Al
Temps warmed after midnight last night and snow turned to light rain. Looks like we got close to 3in but I need to check the gauge when the snow melts.
Paul
Hoping the wet stuff is continuing!
Some parts of California got quite a lot of rain. Tablas Creek reported 11+ inches at their vineyard. Their soils and underlying rock are such that most of it is absorbed rather than running off and making a mess. Parts of Monterey, SLO, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties also got large amounts of rain and had mudslides and evacuations. In the SCM, it was the southern portion that was hardest hit. It looked like the Ben Lomand area was at the northern edge of the core of the storm and it could have been much worse (large burn scars).
My part of the Bay Area gets less rain. We received 1.5 inches in the second and third waves after 0.56 in the previous day. Not nearly as much, but we only 15 inches in in a normal year. Ben Lomand gets about 50 inches.
Parts of Santa Barbara got a fair bit of rain, not sure about the north bay.
-Al
Bump for bookmark.
I went out to the vineyard yesterday morning hoping to find some water at the surface that I could feed into drains that fill my irrigation pond, but it still seems like that’s a way off. Everything is still soaking in.
Calitoga has been getting hammered with rain - our usual, If it rains anywhere in the Bay area, it rains alot here.
Calistoga has been getting hammered with rain - our usual, If it rains anywhere in the Bay area, it rains alot here.
I measured 2.5” total accumulation Tue-Thur in our garden in Santa Rosa. Few small mudslides in the mountains but I haven’t heard of anything terrible.
I’m sure someone can post a link to a piece of HWY 1 washed out in Big Sur area…ugly.
In our area the next 3 day storm has been downgraded from 3" to barely 2" now. A disturbing trend. The only good news is there’s not a big warm up the next 10 days.
The storm was downgraded in northern ca but delivered in central area. We literally pumped amillion gallons off our property
3” pumps @ 250 gallons/min(conservative) x 72 hours
My worst fears realized: the ‘big one’ wasn’t big for us. The last little front has less than an inch in store so the 5 day stretch that had 5-6 inches will give us less than 3.
It’s really starting to feel like two consecutive years in the late 70’s when we had two years in the teens (normal in our area is 35). If the trend continues, every aspect of California agriculture will be seriously affected. Trying not to cry wolf, just my thoughts.
It has been raining here like crazy. The cover crop is alreay quite high, but the sunny days of Friday and Saturday should make the whole thing pop.
How can it keep getting worse every year? only 7.07" of rain here so far. Worried about early bud break and how many frost events well have thru May as our pond is no where close to full, and the fan has limitations here on below 30* nights. We may end up being another August harvest start just like Burgundy, and hopefully before the smoke. Our daffodils are not up yet so thats good, but it may be 70* here this weekend.
Finished up with pruning and heading into our second year of full organics, which is made easier by lack of rain. Smaller crops and less mold/pest pressure. Especially if the entire vineyard is harvested by mid Sept.
A couple of AR events could get us back on track, thats what saved '13-'15, we still got 20-22" but multiple several inch storms in that mix.
Yeah Joe, this is a pretty scary pattern. I’m starting to think about different scenarios. It’s possible we will use up the majority of our water for frost season and have to dry farm the rest of the way. I almost ordered 7200 green growing vines for delivery in May, but decided against it. We might go 100% cultivation (our normal is every other row) to maximize what ground water we will end up with.
It’s not too late to get enough rain for the season, but hoping is not a strategy. Sure would be nice to have a nice, boring farming year! You know: one without drought, smoke, labor shortage, wineries with too much inventory etc.
I pushed off a grafting project because the grafted vines take a lot of irrigation. I already pulled the 100% cultivation tool out of the bag last year and really wouldn’t want to do that two years in a row. It’s true that “If you ain’t fretting, you ain’t farming,” but … hell.
My “neighborhood” certainly bucks the trend. Driving down my street yesterday I saw plenty of standing water in vineyards down near Constellation’s 14 acres and Kenefick and Frediani. Some also along Tubbs Lane. Microclimates are a strange thing.