Climate report for September 2022

As it appears that Newport was off-station last month, that means I won't have climate data for September. The closest station otherwise is Belmullet although it is further out to sea than us so won;t be entirely representative. I'll say that overall it was mild. The month started out very dry here but then got more showery. It wasn't until October that we got a good drenching. September was also quite still, with little wind on most days. Quite pleasant actually. October has started out with a bang, with gale after gale, which also took out one row of young Solaris posts.

Monthly values for BELMULLET up to 05-oct-2022

Total rainfall in millimetres for BELMULLET

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	56.5	151.3	53.9	66.6	78.9	100.9	40.2	51.5	98.2	51.3			749.3
2021	157.3	108.7	111.7	42.4	95.6	54.4	57.6	108.6	99.4	222.4	96.6	108.1	1262.8
2020	120.1	241.9	111.0	23.6	35.7	82.7	133.3	121.7	122.1	191.8	156.2	172.6	1512.7
2019	92.7	120.2	151.3	84.7	57.5	86.6	101.0	160.8	104.8	117.1	139.4	150.3	1366.4
LTA	134.0	97.1	99.2	72.0	70.4	72.1	79.0	101.9	101.8	145.9	134.0	137.4	1244.8

Mean temperature in degrees Celsius for BELMULLET

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	7.8	7.4	8.1	9.7	12.1	13.5	15.0	15.8	14.4	13.1			11.6
2021	5.5	6.6	7.9	8.4	9.7	12.6	16.3	15.6	14.7	12.1	10.0	7.7	10.6
2020	7.5	6.3	6.9	9.9	12.1	13.0	13.6	15.6	13.2	10.4	9.2	6.7	10.4
2019	7.3	8.6	8.1	10.2	11.1	12.7	15.5	15.2	13.5	10.4	7.2	7.2	10.6
LTA	6.3	6.4	7.5	8.9	11.1	13.1	14.8	14.8	13.4	10.9	8.4	6.7	10.2

Mean 10cm soil temperature for BELMULLET at 0900 UTC

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	6.9	6.9	6.9	9.5	13.1	15.0	16.6	16.7	14.9	n/a			11.9
2021	4.6	5.4	7.3	8.5	11.5	14.0	17.7	16.6	15.2	12.1	9.5	7.0	10.8
2020	6.4	5.4	6.1	9.7	13.2	14.9	15.1	16.3	13.6	9.8	8.5	5.8	10.4
2019	7.3	7.1	7.6	9.6	12.7	14.2	16.9	16.0	13.7	10.1	6.9	6.2	10.7
LTA	5.3	5.3	6.6	9.0	12.3	14.9	16.2	15.8	13.7	10.7	7.9	5.9	10.3

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm2 for BELMULLET

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	6166	11332	34041	40068	54907	52470	47861	51546	30807	3098			332296
2021	6523	13922	22546	47189	61096	45352	51642	44831	24444	16746	7770	4745	346806
2020	5832	11396	25563	46590	59654	45320	45450	42566	27661	19061	6721	4974	340788
2019	5603	10672	24450	39413	56303	55757	49018	41827	29068	18362	7964	4865	343302
LTA	6337	12293	24642	40428	54132	52978	49611	41744	29541	16670	7534	4732	340640

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for BELMULLET

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	19.6	26.6	47.1	56.7	74.4	73.5	72.5	77.1	50.6	6.2			504.3
2021	12.4	23.9	33.2	61.5	77.4	67.7	84.1	68.0	41.1	29.3	21.9	15.0	535.5
2020	23.6	27.7	39.1	63.1	85.5	69.6	66.5	67.4	43.4	32.2	18.3	18.4	554.8
2019	16.0	23.3	39.4	58.7	78.0	79.3	76.7	68.1	45.5	33.4	16.5	18.6	553.5
LTA	17.8	23.2	33.7	51.7	69.4	74.2	70.3	61.0	45.5	28.8	18.3	15.0	508.9

Evaporation (mm) for BELMULLET

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	25.3	38.7	68.4	84.3	119.6	115.4	104.9	113.4	69.7	8.7			748.4
2021	16.3	35.1	51.5	91.9	119.4	104.0	115.9	98.6	57.9	40.5	27.4	19.2	777.7
2020	32.2	40.8	59.6	93.8	129.5	106.5	101.0	97.9	63.5	44.6	24.0	23.5	816.9
2019	20.8	33.3	60.0	88.5	115.8	122.4	112.5	100.4	65.6	46.0	20.8	24.2	810.3
LTA	24.7	34.3	52.9	82.0	109.2	115.6	107.6	91.3	67.3	41.0	24.4	19.8	770.1

Degree Days Below 15.5 Degree Celsius for BELMULLET

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2022	240	226	231	178	108	68	39	29	52	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
2021	310	250	237	215	182	91	25	28	43	108	165	243	1899
2020	247	266	265	171	126	81	66	30	81	158	190	274	1957
2019	255	193	230	165	142	94	32	35	68	159	249	256	1876
Mean	286	258	248	200	144	82	46	45	75	143	212	274	2013

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Notes on the Data

Evaporation and PE data are calculated using Penman/Monteith formulae.
The ‘LTA’ (referred to within a table) is average for the climatological long-term-average (LTA) reference period 1981-2010.
Data updated daily at Mid-day.

Open data

Cumulative Rainfall Graphs

Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 05-oct-2022

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2022	98.8	260.4	67.8	84.0	107.0	148.0	59.2	104.1	n/a	51.9			981.2
2021	225.6	147.6	141.1	45.6	113.5	64.1	59.7	155.6	137.0	265.7	183.3	186.6	1725.4
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
LTA	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
2022	7.2	7.1	8.0	9.9	12.6	13.8	15.9	16.2	n/a	13.3			11.4
2021	5.0	6.7	7.9	9.0	10.4	13.3	17.5	16.4	15.2	11.9	9.3	7.6	10.9
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
LTA	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
2022	6.2	6.2	6.3	9.3	13.2	14.8	16.8	16.6	n/a	n/a			11.2
2021	3.6	5.0	6.8	8.2	10.9	14.3	17.9	16.3	15.2	11.3	8.6	6.6	10.4
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
LTA	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Canopy management to mitigate climate change

It's interesting that multiple groups are studying various iterations of canopy management to reduce water consumption, reduce the effects of a warming climate, and maintain quality of the grapes. This scientific paper is going to take some studying to interpret, as these guys have really turned on the jargon. 

Meanwhile, others have started analysing the results and have realising that something has to be done to mitigate the effects of climate change on the grapes have started experimenting. Trellis use to manage vine canopies has been implemented against the traditional means with interesting results in different places. In the San Joaquin Valley and some coastal regions, different canopy management approaches are being tested, with UC Davis at the forefront. They are not quite doing it overhead like we are. Instead, they are draping vines over a high wire at about 6 feet. 

Most are using a vertical shoot position (VSP) system where they train the vines to grow straight up (or down or both) from the cordon, snipping the shoots at about 6 feet off the ground, creating a hedge-like structure. The grapes hang down from the cordon and yields are increasing. Very interesting. 

VSP front

VSP side

There's even a Geneva double curtain system that I find a bit complex and daft, but they say is quite effective. Other trellis systems and pruning methods are described nicely here and here.

Viennese wines?

I must admit, I never thought of Vienna as a wine-producing region. Certainly one of luscious pastries and exquisite coffees, but not wines. Nor did I see any vineyards or wineries when I was there, notably in the 1980s, which of course is 40 years ago. Things change in 40 years, don't they? There are about 400 individual vineyards in the city, covering some 700 hectares.

Their production figures are pretty staggering. The annual yield of wine in Vienna averages 20,000 hectolitres. And all of the wine is sold for immediate consumption locally in the popular wine taverns called Heuriger. 

What a curious model. I wonder how I missed that when I was there. Oh well, it was a business trip, I was very young, and I didn't speak German. 

Wine not?

We processed the grapes by hand and got half a bowl of white and a big pot full of red. They were delicious by the way!

We crushed the grapes with the Mouli and got a glass full of green juice from the Solaris, which we drank. We got a jar full of must from the Rondo which Alex topped off with a little water and some yeast dissolved in 3/4 cup of boiled lukewarm water. The must is thick and we couldn't put it in a 5L demijohn, so we used my 2L apple cider vinegar jar, which promptly overflowed overnight. We then split it into two jars with plastic pull-on lids which let the air escape. 

The only good news is that the Brix measurement by refractometer is precisely 20. 

How do farmers do it year after year?

Disappointing harvest

Shrivelled grapes

We couldn't harvest yesterday because Alex had to show Ross House with little notice. We had a lot of commitments this week, and I hadn't looked at the grapes in two days. I thought it would give more of them a chance to reach a brix of 20 as they were hovering around 19 three days ago. 

When we started picking the Rondo this morning, it quickly became apparent that we'd had a crop failure. Without rain for so long, in those two days, most of them turned into raisins.  I was gutted. We only had a few good bunches. Very tasty, but hardly enough for a bottle or two. 

A good bunch

The full harvest of Rondo.

Meanwhile, the Solaris also reached veraison. We picked what was there -- so little for the number of vines -- but our yield was barely half a bucket. Lots of hens and chicks but really tasty and sweet. Most were from the younger vines not the older ones. I just don't understand what went wrong. There was no early frost or major storms. 

You can see the damage to the foliage caused by the drought. The only good news is that the birds didn't eat all of the grapes. Our strategies must have worked:

• Kites flying overhead
• Heron on the ground
• CDs fluttering around the vines
• No bird food in the garden for the last two months
• Cats prowling far and wide

Curiously, some of the vines are flowering again. They are really confused by this late warmth and sunshine. 

Flowering Solaris

Flower buds on Rondo

Vines suffering from drought

The Pinot Noir is encouraging 

Veraison is beginning

Chardonnay still hard as a rock and sour

Veraison not evident

Hens and chicks

No transparency

Visiting honey bees

The vineyard vista is still magnificent

Farming during anthropogenic climate weirdness is going to be a challenge.