We've had several days of brilliant sunshine, blue skies and warm dry weather. After all the storms, Lord knows, we deserve it. So gardening was the obvious option deserving attention as we've not had much of a chance to do a lot outdoors this winter. Lots of weeding, lots of pruning in the orchard and of the trees.
Today, I checked on the vineyard. All fine and still dormant, thank goodness, as so much is waking up early. It looks like all the vines are okay although one may have drowned.
My sign is on its last days but Alex got me a nice new one - printed on plastic not painted on wood. The first one lasted for almost six years. I'll have to save the remnants as a museum item.
We had another inquiry from someone as crazy as we are who is planning a vineyard in Cork. That's the second one this winter, and I think we're not the only ones. This is getting exciting.
The grass is growing and the vineyard guard cats are hard at work ensuring the absence of Rodentia. It's sunny and everyone is happy, pandemic be damned.
February had far less rainfall than last year but a little bit higher than the mean for recent years. It certainly felt like we had more rainfall than that, especially when it was coming down in buckets.
MONTHLY VALUES FOR NEWPORT UP TO 28-FEB-2021
Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|
| 2021 | 225.6 | 147.5 | n/a | | | | | | | | | | 373.1 |
| 2020 | 139.5 | 342.8 | 178.2 | 25.5 | 54.7 | 164.5 | 187.9 | 137.9 | 153.4 | 228.0 | 206.6 | 232.7 | 2051.7 |
| 2019 | 146.8 | 115.0 | 228.5 | 100.7 | 112.5 | 76.6 | 82.7 | 228.9 | 175.5 | 160.7 | 148.1 | 220.6 | 1796.6 |
| 2018 | 274.6 | 155.6 | 86.2 | 94.3 | 70.4 | 65.9 | 58.6 | 179.1 | 148.3 | 140.9 | 172.6 | 201.0 | 1647.5 |
| mean | 166.7 | 126.5 | 141.2 | 96.8 | 94.7 | 89.7 | 100.9 | 132.5 | 131.5 | 176.0 | 170.4 | 180.2 | 1607.1 |
Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for NEWPORT
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|
| 2021 | 5.0 | 6.7 | n/a | | | | | | | | | | 5.8 |
| 2020 | 7.2 | 6.0 | 6.6 | 11.0 | 12.8 | 13.8 | 14.4 | 16.0 | 13.8 | 10.5 | 9.1 | 6.1 | 10.6 |
| 2019 | 6.9 | 8.4 | 7.9 | 10.2 | 11.7 | 13.1 | 16.3 | 15.5 | 13.7 | 10.3 | 7.1 | 7.1 | 10.7 |
| 2018 | 5.9 | 4.6 | 5.5 | 9.1 | 13.1 | 16.1 | 16.1 | 15.0 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 8.3 | 8.1 | 10.5 |
| mean | 6.1 | 6.1 | 7.3 | 9.0 | 11.5 | 13.8 | 15.4 | 15.4 | 13.5 | 10.8 | 8.3 | 6.5 | 10.3 |
Mean 10cm soil temperature for NEWPORT at 0900 UTC
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|
| 2021 | 3.6 | 5.0 | n/a | | | | | | | | | | 4.3 |
| 2020 | 5.7 | 4.7 | 5.4 | 9.7 | 13.0 | 14.8 | 14.9 | 16.3 | 13.7 | 9.5 | 8.0 | 5.1 | 10.1 |
| 2019 | 6.1 | 6.1 | 6.8 | 8.9 | 12.2 | 13.8 | 16.7 | 15.7 | 13.5 | 9.4 | 6.2 | 5.6 | 10.1 |
| 2018 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 4.0 | 8.2 | 13.1 | 17.4 | 18.4 | 15.1 | 12.1 | 9.6 | 6.6 | 6.6 | 9.9 |
| mean | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm2 for NEWPORT
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|
| 2021 | 6620 | 13347 | n/a | | | | | | | | | | 19967 |
| 2020 | 6263 | 10808 | 24545 | 46192 | 58476 | 43537 | 40215 | 40555 | 25558 | 18487 | 6319 | 5209 | 326164 |
| 2019 | 5378 | 10595 | 21306 | 37648 | 49884 | 49607 | 45395 | 37116 | 26460 | 17406 | 8167 | 4766 | 313728 |
| 2018 | 5976 | 13390 | 25269 | 34709 | 58446 | 59849 | 51448 | 34923 | 22619 | 17123 | 7842 | 4068 | 335662 |
| mean | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|
| 2021 | 7.6 | 22.9 | n/a | | | | | | | | | | 30.5 |
| 2020 | 17.6 | 21.9 | 35.0 | 70.2 | 91.6 | 72.9 | 66.2 | 66.4 | 42.7 | 28.1 | 13.6 | 10.4 | 536.6 |
| 2019 | 13.4 | 21.5 | 35.4 | 60.4 | 79.0 | 78.2 | 79.5 | 62.9 | 42.8 | 29.2 | 14.8 | 14.3 | 531.4 |
| 2018 | 16.3 | 21.8 | 35.7 | 52.0 | 88.2 | 102.4 | 87.2 | 58.7 | 37.9 | 30.2 | 18.0 | 11.5 | 559.9 |
| mean | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual |
|---|
| 2021 | 10.9 | 32.1 | n/a | | | | | | | | | | 43.0 |
| 2020 | 22.4 | 31.9 | 51.8 | 98.9 | 130.8 | 104.8 | 94.3 | 92.7 | 59.1 | 38.8 | 18.1 | 13.6 | 757.2 |
| 2019 | 17.7 | 29.5 | 52.0 | 87.3 | 111.6 | 112.8 | 109.6 | 88.8 | 59.9 | 39.6 | 18.9 | 17.9 | 745.6 |
| 2018 | 21.9 | 30.2 | 51.7 | 76.4 | 127.4 | 140.4 | 120.7 | 82.2 | 53.1 | 40.6 | 22.8 | 14.9 | 782.3 |
| mean | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
DEGREE DAYS BELOW 15.5 DEGREE CELSIUS FOR NEWPORT
|
| Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Total |
|---|
| 2021 | 325 | 247 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| 2020 | 257 | 276 | 275 | 143 | 111 | 73 | 55 | 31 | 71 | 156 | 193 | 291 | 1935 |
| 2019 | 266 | 200 | 235 | 165 | 130 | 89 | 27 | 36 | 67 | 164 | 251 | 262 | 1892 |
| 2018 | 298 | 306 | 309 | 194 | 104 | 50 | 31 | 44 | 100 | 147 | 215 | 230 | 2027 |
Notes on the Data
Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
All means are for the period 1981-2010. Data updated daily at Mid-day.
