Oof that’s awful, I’m in BC and didn’t hear those numbers. I know the interior broke the Canadian temp record with 118 F. I’m in Victoria on the island so we were a little better off than others, but still broke 100 which is unheard of for us.
That pretty well sums it up.
And the news about BC is horrible. This weather was out of left field, and I just feel extremely fortunate that it only lasted 3 days.
It’s completely ridiculous that this is a thing that even had to happen before the fourth of July. I hope smoke taint isn’t an issue again this fall in the Willamette valley.
Relatives were tasting in Oregon recently. The tasting note for the 2020 Pinot Noir Rose had the following “…this medium body sassy Pinot Noir Rose has a polished entry showing strawberry and cherry fruit plus leafy notes with a slight smokey finish as a result of the fires from 2020.”
Here’s a report I received yesterday from Jessica Cortell (I source from one of her vineyards that she co-owns, Cortell-Rose in Eola Amity Hills. She also manages a couple dozen+ top-tier sites such as Seven Springs, Antica Terra, Medici, etc. Company name is Vitis Terra Vineyard Services.)
“ Due to the rain during bloom, there was some shatter observed in vineyards that started to bloom early resulting in small-medium clusters (ie around 70 berries per cluster). Late blooming sites might fare better with fruitset but high temperatures can also cause shatter. This might be the first year we actually have to consider fruitset issues from high temperatures. Right now, the crop looks larger than last year but not huge.
The two inches of rain in June was very beneficial in helping support canopy growth to fill out the wire and in protecting the vines against the high temperatures. Overall, we are lucky the heat spike happened when it did as heat above 100 during veraison and fruit ripening can be much more devastating when the fruit is sensitive to heat and the vines are under high drought stress conditions.
We did observe heat damaged leaves in young and weak vines where maybe their stomata closed to conserve water causing them to heat up and sustain damage. Larger more vigorous vines fared better and had little to no damaged leaves. Varietal differences were noted with Riesling, Chardonnay and Gamay showing more heat damaged leaves regardless of vine vigor level. In a few cases, some berries were burned as well. In most cases the berries were transpiring and cooling themselves similar to the leaves and were fine. We will be out next week taking a closer look.
The one thing that did happen after the rain and warm days, was rapid explosive shoot growth…. Combine that with the crews working a couple half days due to excessive heat, we went from being on top of canopy management to playing catch up…
As we had a hot dry April and now higher than average temperatures in May and June, we are losing water from the soil rapidly due to evapotranspiration. In April alone we lost 4.66 inches of water and only gained .69 inches. The two inches of rain in June was helpful but we lost most of that to the hot snap where we had a daily evapotranspiration rate of .52 inches on 6/28 and numerous days of .3 inches. In previous years, there would only be a handful of days during the entire summer above .3 inches of ET. This means our soils are drying down much faster than in the past so we will likely see drought stress later this summer. We have been doing a lot of foliar fertilizer sprays to help maintain a healthy canopy. Hedging as soon as we can will reduce the leaf area and therefore water use. Hedging can help conserve water.….”
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Thanks Marcus, Jim and David for the updates!
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And some would see politics.
OHA is still attributing under 100 deaths to the three day heat dome.
OHA reporting 94 Oregon deaths attributed to Heat Dome as of this AM.
They would be best off taking that to the different forum. Science and math don’t need to be tainted by partisan bias.
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Oregon has now attributed > 100 fatalities to the heat dome.
I think we are seeing temps rise overall on the West Coast the last decade but in some parts more than others. In Napa/Sonoma we were in the low to mid 80s while the Northwest fried. In fact, I would say this year is very average for temps thus far here. Our huge problem is drought and fires, rather than temps. Walla Walla spent 10-straight days between 100-107F the other week and the next ten days are 93-102F. We will be 81-97F, a bit less. It seems the climate is changing different ways in different regions, each with their own risks.
Exactly right. There is zero doubt (among people who actually understand basic chemistry) that global temps are rising due to increased greenhouse gases. What’s complicated is the modeling of how that will impact weather in any local region or specific location. All the modeling I’ve seen says that northern coastal California will be relatively stable in temperature, maybe even decrease slightly on average. But that’s just modeling, we will see as the years progress.
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The heat dome caused several months worth of snow melt in the PNW in just five days. We rely on snow pack to carry us through the dry season, so that is scary.
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Good post. And while the temps here during the heat dome were very atypically hot, it lasted less than 72 hours. We have been back to 75-90 for highs and 53-56 for nightime lows since the heat dome. No rain in May is more of a worry for me. The vines seem to have handled the three days of 110+ as well as can be hoped.
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Massive die-off of shellfish in the Sound and ocean beaches. Clams, oysters, cockles poached in a super low tide at mid day in the peak of the heat dome . I estimate 80% loss of oysters on my beach. Stinks, as you can imagine.
First ever August pick for me. 809 pounds of 3rd leaf Sauvignon Blanc from Durant Vineyard. First Pinot Noir comes this Friday.
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Roy, you wrote:
“Our huge problem is drought and fires, rather than temps.”
I wish you well, but I think you are whistling past the graveyard.
I am afraid that before the end of this century, much or most of the Napa Valley will be too hot to grow fine Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dan Kravitz
Dan, I totally agree with you that as the years go by the heat will increase enough to change the dynamics of growing grapes out here. No doubt about that.
I think what Roy was saying is that this growing season 2021 has been warm but not exceptionally hot and when we have had a heat spell, it has been brief compared to other years.
Temperatures in Sonoma County have been mostly in the 80’s up to the mid 90’s but not staying in the 90’s for an extended period. There have been a couple spikes to triple digits but literally only
for a day, quickly dropping down again.
Having said all that, harvest may be the same or earlier than other years because of the drought. I’m not sure anyone knows for sure the effect this severe lack of rain has on the pace of grape maturity.
Would love to have some growers, winemakers etc peek in and give their take.
Tom