My guess is around 8 inches here. It softened for a bit and I got the trash and recycling out, but it is back at it again. Still warm - 55 degrees - but certainly nasty.
This was yesterday at Floodgate. Water has risen 13’ since this video.
[vimeo]198595104[/vimeo]
Still no PGE. Over 24 hours. There is no estimated time of restoration and no crew on site.
Thanks, Paul. All good points. I should’ve clarified that I’m referring to early cold temperatures as opposed to prolonged cold temperatures.
Well Paul, just when I was going to suggest that you need to really focus on statistical climatic data to support your position because I don’t believe plants have a memory, it turns out they may.
Common knowledge is that budbreak or germination relies on recent history. Perhaps that is not the case and it is fascinating.
It is pelting rain against the doors and windows…again. The wind is howling…again.
At least we had most of the day to walk, get outside, do errands, let the cats out. Lady Sapphire, my amazing 10 month old black polydactyl, is some hunter. She had a mouse she was chasing for hours out in the yard. She was bred as a wilderness cat, and despite her high-class looks, she is a huntress supreme.
Cecilia FB’d me that she was flooded in all directions. She bought the 5 acres adjacent to Ritchie, heading toward Radford Inn.
In our expierence we see similar res results to what Paul is talking about. When winter is milder and drier soil temps warm earlier in the season and all our plants come out earlier. What we use to estimate harvest (and to schedule bottling as to not get caught off guard early and to maximize time in barrel to as close to 11 months as possible after 3-4+ weeks in the fermentor) is the daffodils. The first farm house built on the property planted a bed of daffodils that the family has tracked for over 60 years. We use them as the indicator plant for the start to the season. They tracked it mostly for when to schedule hay planting assuring the soil was warm enough in the spring to get the seeds to germinate.
I really hope we see the daffodils and grapes wake up in a more normal time of year. The last few early years we had flowering a month early that lead to some loss from shatter. Mostly on the SB but some on the PN as well. Harvesting mid to late September is prefered to late August.
The rain has not subsided, and the earth is at saturation again. All the low spots in my yard are puddled, and the “pond” in my neighbor’s back yard has reappeared. My habit is to take any unused water, even from the stray water glass, and dump it on some plants somewhere on the property. I stopped myself again this morning…I mean, why?
And now the wind is picking up big time and trees are falling.
I bought this place in December of 1999. I have never, ever seen this much standing water on my property. Can’t see anything in the vineyard because the cover crop is fairly high, but any low spot on the rest of the property is under water. Windows and doors that never had any sign of leaking have been spitting down water. The amount of rain, along with intense and shifting winds, have brought those in to view. The roads have flooded over at both ends of my access from the Silverado Trail, but I do not feel at risk. Just not going anywhere.
Good food, great wine, and dry fire wood are the keys to getting through this.
Now no electricity and the storm seems to be intensifying. As they would say in Boston: “Wicked bad storm.”
Napa River crested last night around 1am at just shy of 26 feet (sunday was 26.81) and downtown Napa remained dry. Big relief as our tasting room and residence are both downtown.
The river is raging and remains high so let’s hope we start to see levels go down before the next high tide at noon. There was a lot more precip north and in the mountains yesterday that has to make its way down yet. So far the flood project is working as designed.
Here is the latest 24 hr precip map I pulled early this morning covering 5am Tues to 5am Wed.
Are there areas in Napa and Sonoma that require Federal Flood Insurance? I’m guessing that there are parts of Napa city that do.
I don’t know about that, Gary.
All the standing water in my yard has been absorbed…amazing. Many, many limbs and branches down, and it is quite the mess. The trenches between the street and private property are still pretty full.
It is cooler, around 48, but the sun is shining! I am going to get out of here for a while today for sure.
Gary - I assume Sonoma has similar mapping for flood zones - here is the link to the Napa site and where there wiuld be requirements for flood insurance. Napa has made changes to their mapping based on the flood control project.
http://www.cityofnapa.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1156&Itemid=793
Yesterday finally turned rainy…and cold. There is a slight dusting of snow visible atop the Palisades, way up across from my place.
The 8 station northern sierra precipitation index is looking pretty amazing so far this year.
I’ll add some northern Willamette Valley perspective and hope others chime in…this is also my first winter here so keep that in mind.
Between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the area got between 8" and 13" (downtown Portland) of snow with no temperatures above freezing expected until Saturday. I live in SW Portland and haven’t been west since the snow so I’m not too sure how the heart of wine country fared. Our winery driveway was plowed today so hopefully we can get back to work tomorrow.
A good amount of rain and warming up to 50 over the weekend should get us back to normality.
Are you familiar with the historical record of these events? I found the tale of the 1861-1862 ArkStorm fascinating.