Arctic blast

With the cold weather, we've finally been able to drive and walk without sinking in the vineyard again. Alex has been installing cross wires, the last stage before we can train the remaining vines. But today it was so cold we couldn't work there. We are experiencing weather we have never seen before. Temperatures plunging well below 0C for more than a week, fog lifting from the ocean and freezing, drifting as ice fog before it settles as black ice on the roads and paths and vegetation. Driving conditions are treacherous. 

It is beastly cold but thankfully, there's little wind. And it's supposed to last all week. We haven't had really cold weather like this in years. Wednesday, it's supposed to drop to -8C (~17F). I hope the vines can take it. At least some of the pests may be destroyed.

But apparently, Ireland is no stranger to abysmally cold weather. There have been cold snaps recorded since early Christian times. 

Winter has arrived

Met Eireann has delivered a frosty National Outlook for the coming week. Today was brilliantly sunny, but the cold has begun to descend upon us. Tonight will be our first significant frost, and it will continue to get colder through the week. I even picked out the word #sniachta in the Irish language forecast today. The skies have been clear enough to see the moon and the ISS passing near it. Wednesday will be the Cold Moon. 

This is a jet not the ISS which appears as a moving star.

I cannot believe it's already well into December -- time seems to be accelerating. November turned out to be similar to the prior two years, with average rainfall and mild temperatures.

Alex had been installing the crosswires so we could finally train the vines properly on the trellises, but it got too wet to drive on the land or to even walk it. Here is the forecast for the coming week:

Overview: Very cold with widespread frost and icy stretches on roads. Plenty of dry weather is expected but there will be wintry showers at times, particularly in the north and northwest.

• Tuesday night: Very cold with widespread frost, as temperatures drop to between -3 and +2 degrees. It will be generally dry and clear and there will be a light northerly wind.
• Wednesday: Cold with temperatures only reaching 2 to 5 degrees, in a light north to northwest wind. It will be dry and sunny in most places, but there will be scattered showers in northern and western coastal areas. The showers will turn increasingly wintry later in the day, with snow likely on high ground.
• Wednesday night: Bitterly cold with temperatures falling below zero degrees countrywide and as low as -3 or -4 degrees in some places. There will be a widespread sharp to severe frost and ice on untreated surfaces. Showers will fall as sleet or snow in some areas.
• Thursday: Very cold with temperatures remaining in low single figures. A mix of sunny spells and well-scattered showers of sleet, snow and hail. 
• Thursday night: Another bitterly cold night with widespread sharp to severe frost and icy stretches. Minimum temperatures of -4 to -2 degrees in a light north to northwest wind. Most areas will be dry and clear but there will be wintry showers at times near the coast.
• Friday: Staying very cold with temperatures remaining in low single figures. Mostly dry with sunny spells, but wintry showers will persist near coasts, especially in the north.
• Further outlook: Little change expected for the weekend; staying very cold with some wintry showers and widespread frost by night.

 

Everyone is dormant.

Stormy weather

#StormDudley not so bad right now

Two deep low-pressure systems have been named by the Met Office and will bring very strong winds and potentially snow to the UK and Ireland this week. I don't know how they choose who gets to name them. 

⚠️The warnings are in place. 

#StormDudley will bring a spell of wet and very windy weather today. A yellow wind warning is in place nationwide from noon today until noon tomorrow, with the strongest winds expected in coastal areas and on high ground. Windguru is showing gusts higher than 50 knots later today. Highest temperatures of 9 to 13 degrees C.

🌊Large coastal waves & some coastal flooding are possible. 

Current predicted track of #StormEunice

#StormEunice is the second named storm to impact Ireland this week, bringing high winds and the potential for snow. Some are even saying to expect blizzard-like conditions on Friday morning. In fact, all models are showing heavy precipitation overnight and temperatures around 1C.  #sneachta  

Strong jet stream will fuel Storm Eunice

Storm Eunice is expected to deepen rapidly with central pressure reaching as low as 965mb, 'as the low forms in the right entrance of a jet streak and shifts across to the left exit region'. The exact track/depth is uncertain, which will affect the location of the strongest winds, but there is potential for disruption on Friday especially in the southernmost parts of the country while the northernmost parts get snow pulled down from the North. A definite whiff of explosive cyclogenesis will be in the air as we run through Thursday into Friday (1005mb down to 965mb Thursday noon to Friday noon - 40mb drop in 24hrs).

Central pressure of 965 mb shown centered over the UK. 

The ground in the vineyard was already quite soggy and this week isn't going to help. At least we managed to tie down all the vines securely to their posts and I managed to finish pruning in the orchard. Hopefully, the damage will be minimized. 

They've just issued hurricane-force wind warnings for parts of the UK and Ireland. 

PS Got through Dudley without too much ado. Although Ghost and I got caught up in the polytunnel through the worst of it. 

Big storm, bitter cold

Yesterday we had a big storm with high winds and a big chill -- temps hovering around 0C at night.  Today, we had a calm moody day with dramatic skies and warm drizzle. What a contrast. 

I walked up to the vineyard after finishing work in the polytunnel thinking the vines might be dormant. I noticed that the Rondo had dropped all its leaves, the Solaris dropped most of its leaves, but the Chardonnay, Pinto Noir and Albarino were still holding onto the leaves. Strange. I guess the shorter season grapes also have shorter season vines. And whereas the Rondo leaves had turned red first, all the others turned golden yellow, even the Pinto Noir. Not yet time for pruning. 

Well, it's almost the end of the month and we've increased our rainfall total to somewhat normal but are still way high on temperature average even with several days of bitter cold. In a couple of days, I'll report the final numbers. 

Meanwhile, the Omicron variant that was detected in SA has taken off and travel restrictions are being instituted again. Looks like we'll be staying home for the holidays yet again. Glad to have our land.