Yes, rain and snow and high winds. Mostly somewhat less precipitation and not as strong winds, although could be bad locally and on top of all the preceding storms. Rolls in tonight and tomorrow morning.
-Al
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Enough time between storms to allow the ground to soak up the new precipitation?
The rain really seems endless this year. I honestly thought it was finally over with that last one a couple weeks ago but here we are again.
Yes, it does seem like it’s lasting forever. To answer earlier question, not really time for ground to let ground dry out very much. Pretty water logged, so each decent storm causes road damage, mud-slides, downed trees when windy (last couple have had strong winds).
The storm today hasn’t been too heavy in my area, although there was a flood advisory in San Francisco and winds and visibility were delaying flights at SFO.
But, I think most of the vineyards are fine (unless localized erosion) and the vineyard reservoirs are full. More of any issue for roads and homes.
-Al
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it has been a ton of wind and rain nearly every day for weeks. My site is very well drained, and with a good cover crop, standing water is not an issue. Yesterday was highs in the 40s and lows in the 40s. We need some sun!
When, during a typical year, do you see budbreak? When do you expect it this year?
Sometime in April; Sometime in Aril!
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Fans on the past two mornings (our house is in Coombsville, adjacent to the Faust Estate vineyard). Going up to 62 today and sunny. Time to flip the switch to spring.
Finally!
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I’ve got budbreak – probably 3 weeks later than average. I’m happy with that, both for avoiding frost on this end and for pushing harvest later in the year. I have a NE facing slope which starts getting progressively less direct sun in Sept. If ripening is a little late when the semi-regular Sept 1 heat spike occurs, it’s all to the good, and I can hope for a slowing sugar accumulation for the rest of the month. If you’re real rot prone you might feel differently and prefer to get things picked before the chance of rain starts getting greater. So far, I’ve hung through rain unscathed and am thus more phobic about late season heat.
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Over the course of the years spent tracking the more prominent elements each vintage the “threat” of rain has become, more nearly, the wish for rain, and the heat, beyond mid-August, has become more problematic. It’ll take a while before I’ll be ready to shift back to worrying about inclement weather. I’m just thankful that, for a year now, we didn’t just bake, and wonder whether it would ever rain again.
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Calling my fellow Anderson Valley guy Joe Webb! MUST be budbreak by now?
Drove along Russian River today, there’s a bit of growth out there, but not everywhere. Anderson had nothing two weeks ago.
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It’s going to be warm this weekend in northern CA. Will kick off vineyard growth and accelerate snow melt.
-Al
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In full budbreak here.
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Everybody seeing budbreak now?
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Guess everyone’s busy farming to talk about farming.
Boonville predicted to be 80s to low/mid 90s through Sunday, should help kick things off in your former turf.
-Al
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My cover crop was waist high and dense - it’s taking a lot of work to to turn that into the ground. Mowing, weed digging, tilling. Pretty soon it will be in order. It’s pretty cool at night and hot (high 80s) in the afternoon. Great growing weather.
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