This is the view on Eastside Rd. looking north towards Healdsburg smoke is pretty nasty today .
I just read a report about high winds picking up today in northern Cal - hope they don’t spread the fires further? 
Red Flag Warning from 11am today till 11pm Saturday. High winds, humidity at 15-20%…
Mandatory evacuations for some towns (that I have never heard of) in Lake County. It is not a “natural” to go over the hill to Lake County as it is to go to Napa from here. But there is proximity, for sure.
I just saw a bit of “Smoke and Ash” (Joni Mitchell in “Help Me”) as I ventured out to the yard. It was clear and cool when I did my morning vineyard work around 8:00. The Valley floor here in Calistoga is clear, but it is hazy/smokey in the hills. My place is pocketed by Diamond Mountain to the south, the Palisades to the north, and then as I look west, that is where the change comes in. Hot, dry, and breezy; ideal conditions for wildfire.
I think it is a personal decision whether to stay or go - but if you stay under evacuation orders, you cannot expect any rescue efforts. In the last few months, as people still discuss the October fires, I realize how many people stayed.
Mendocino fire is now 5th largest in California history and it is still growing.
Ferguson is 35% contained, less than it used to be 
. Carr/Redding is still 41% (just bumped from 35%). River fire (big Mendo #1) is 58%, so this is w/in spitting distance of being contained. Ranch fire (big Mendo #2) is 23%, up from 15% which is good, but it’s 200K acres & a long way away from being contained which is scary. The red flag conditions over the last day+, while this was burning through the Mendo Natl Forest was unfortunate timing, to say the least.
Mendocino complex is now the largest fire in modern California history.
It was #5 this morning but only 12,000 acres behind the top spot. Amazing how fast this is growing. Mostly uninhabited land with poor access.
Ugh, we’re gonna have more ‘Red Flag’ conditions from tomorrow (Thurs) mid-day to Saturday night . River fire is 80% contained & Ranch is 46%. The others aren’t that different. I’m wondering/guessing they’re making a big push on the Ranch fire? Best wishes to all the fire fighters!
We have some experience with smoke taint - had an 08 syrah from Mendocino (Alder Springs Vineyard) that had issues. But that was exposed to very prolonged smoke (nearly two months) at nearly every stage including during and after veraison. Hope things work out for everyone - smoke taint is a bitch.
Hwy 20 from Upper Lake to Clearlake Oaks was reopened today. Clear travel all the way around the lake.
All the big fires are either completely or 90+% contained (i.e. Ferguson, Carr, & big Mendo #1 & 2). Donnell (36K acres, near Yosemite) is 63% contained & Hirtz (33k acres, north of Redding) is 36% contained, but those ‘small’ (small compared to others). More importantly, the air seems to have cleared up across most of the state. Woo Hoo.
BTW, as I was looking into whether my vineyards might be affected by fires, and which ones, I came across the following wind direction/flow site. Very cool/pretty & if you check at different times of the day, and different days, does a great job of showing how varied the wind can be, and where your air is likely coming from at different times. Maybe I’m easily entertained 
I posted this on another thread…but thought it repeating here, since it’s relatively new and worthwhile info.
The Australian Wine Research Institute (awri) is doing a ton of research on smoke taint. Most of what we know about ST is due to their work…they’ve had the wildfire near vineyards problem longer than anyone else.
They figured out there’s very little difference in the types & amts of smoke particles from different wood sources (burning plastic/etc is a different kettle of fish, obviously). I.e. one type of wood isn’t more/less likely to cause ST. Turns out tho, the damaging particles (that cause ST) drop out of the smoke ‘relatively’ quickly. So if a vineyard is far enough away from a fire, the grapes won’t get tainted, even if they have high and/or long exposure to the smoke. They’re still working on this, to quantify the typical distances (from fire to grapes) and other factors.
So it’s unlikely that any CA grapes will get tainted from Canadian (or Washington/Oregon) fires. And it’s too early to write 2018 off.
Very interesting indeed, thanks for that summary Eric. Continued hope that your vineyards will be/remain unaffected.
Haere Ra,
Mike
Picking sb next weekend. Initial smoke taint tests negative
Thanks Mike. A friend gets Petit Sirah from Lake County…he’s gotten that fruit testing multiple times, each time with a result of no taint. These tests can give false negatives (a result of no smoke taint when it’s there)…still, it’s a surprising/hopeful/positive data point.