The pruning continues

 

As long as it's not shite weather, we will continue pruning until St Vincent's Feast Day on January 22, when we have to celebrate the patron saint of winemakers. Vincent the martyr is invoked by vignerons (wine-makers), vintners (wine-merchants), vinegar-makers, brickmakers, and sailors. He is also patron of São Vicente, Lisbon; Algarve; Valencia; and Vicenza, Italy.

It was dry and calm today and not as cold as it had been, making it ideal weather for pruning. I did the Chardonnay today. Some of the plants look vigorous and healthy but others look weak and spindly. I don't know if it's the moisture in the middle of the field, but it may be. 

Anyway, pruning is a big job and getting bigger every year. Just look at that tangled mess! We are going to have to do a better job of keeping the vines in check during the growing season. Until then, snip-snip. 

Pruning weather

Despite the earth's warming overall, we've been having a cold snap. But it has also been sunny and relatively still, so we managed to get started on some of the pruning. It's a little early according to the French, who wait until St Vincent's feast day later in January. Saint-Vincent was a deacon, a martyr of the Church of Saragossa, Spain, who lived during the fourth century. He is now regarded as the patron saint and protector of winemakers. Yes, the connection between Vin-cent and wine (vin in French) is now clear. 

Alex started with the Rondo and I started with the Pinot Noir because I can reach it more easily. He prunes each vine to its perfect form, while I do it in stages. These vines, which grew vigorously this year. need first a pruning of the obvious. The second pruning is when you can see the potential primaries more easily and you can then decide which one to select. All the others go at this stage. 

We also finished pruning the crabapple but have not gone on to the other apple trees. Later this week, it is to get warmer so it will be easier to work up there. 

"Gobsmackingly bananas"

 

It's official, 2023 was the hottest year on record. Temperatures worldwide, averaged across last year, were 1.48C, or 2.66F, higher than they were in the second half of the 19th century, The Copernicus ECMWF team announced today. The BBC drew up some really great graphics to represent the data. 

December was the 7th consecutive month of record-shattering global temperature. One group of young scientists thinks it was driven by the combination of a moderately strong El Nino and a large decrease in Earth’s albedo (reflectivity). The decreased albedo is spurred by reduced atmospheric aerosols and the reduction of sea ice.  They make the case that the 1.5°C global warming ceiling has been passed for all practical purposes because the large planetary energy imbalance ensures that global temperature will continue to increase for some months even if we encounter a La Nina. They describe the changes as “gobsmackingly bananas.”

Not only was the air temperature the hottest since 1850 when records started being kept, but the sea surface temperature also broke records, as did Antarctic sea ice. In fact, the world's ocean surface has been on an unbroken streak of record-breaking days since early May and has continued to increase dramatically through the first week of the new year. 

It has reached exponential change potential. This isn't going to be fun. 

 

https://twitter.com/i/status/1744526632201662685 

Rain, rain go away

Today, the forecast was for sunshine but what we got was on-and-off rain. It started out sunny and gentle which gave me hope about starting to prune in the vineyard. We had gotten one apple tree and the crabapple pruned over the past couple of days. Just as I wanted to go out, the skies would open. When I got into some task inside, the sun would come out. So no outdoor work today. 

Since Alex is in Dublin, and I was feeling a bit under the weather, I cleaned out the linen closet and my office and transported all the excess linens, furnishings, and artworks to the shed. In between showers, of course. It was a lot of stuff.

I managed to take a few dramatic photos of the Holy Mountain and the vineyard along the way. We didn't manage to bottle the wine before Alex's departure. He's away next at the boy's weekend so it won't be until next week that we get to the white wine and remaining cider.

Climate report for 2023

Well, it's official, Newport was the wettest place in Mayo in December with almost 294 mm of rain, well above the average for December of 1607mm. With that, our total for the year was the highest yet, and 240mm higher than the average for 1981-2010. 

Our temperature for the month was the warmest December yet, and the year was 1.1C higher than the average for the baseline period. We also had the fewest days below 15.5C. 

I can't wait to see what the global reports say, because the ocean is far above the average for the year. 

Provisional State of the Irish Climate Report 2023

Met Éireann data shows 2023 is the warmest year on record and a year of firsts for Ireland

 Published 10 am Thursday 28th December 2023

It is expected that 2023 will be the warmest year on record for Ireland, beating the previous warmest year of 2022. For the first time, Ireland’s annual average temperature is greater than 11°C (record length 124 years). 2022 was the previous warmest year on record at nearly 10.9°C, narrowly beating 2007 by just 0.1°C.

Monthly values for NEWPORT up to 01-jan-2024

Total rainfall in millimetres for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2024	11.1												11.1
2023	183.2	91.6	188.4	121.1	48.5	77.9	206.8	139.8	142.4	144.7	209.6	293.8	1847.8
2022	98.8	260.4	67.8	84.0	107.0	148.0	59.2	104.1	97.3	233.9	187.5	154.6	1602.6
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
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
2024	6.7												6.7
2023	6.6	8.0	7.6	9.9	13.3	17.4	14.9	15.8	15.2	11.9	8.7	7.9	11.4
2022	7.2	7.1	8.0	9.9	12.6	13.8	15.9	16.2	n/a	12.2	9.4	5.2	10.7
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
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
2024	n/a
2023	5.2	6.8	6.6	9.1	13.7	18.6	16.3	16.3	14.7	11.1	7.6	6.7	11.1
2022	6.2	6.2	6.3	9.3	13.2	14.8	16.8	16.6	n/a	11.5	8.4	4.4	10.4
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
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	n/a

Global Solar Radiation in Joules/cm2 for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2024	48												48
2023	6245	10639	21429	37277	55732	58473	41797	36857	29338	16225	8326	4411	326749
2022	6311	10756	33399	40555	51569	47246	48439	51169	n/a	15988	7869	6167	319468
2021	6620	13347	20370	45694	55690	45488	49455	40490	22413	16358	7235	3780	326940
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	n/a

Potential Evapotranspiration (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2024	0.5												0.5
2023	14.3	20.9	33.0	56.4	83.3	100.6	70.1	64.4	50.1	26.1	14.2	14.7	548.1
2022	13.7	23.0	47.2	60.6	77.7	76.0	80.4	82.0	n/a	27.2	17.2	9.2	514.2
2021	7.6	22.9	30.7	62.9	76.3	70.7	87.8	67.5	38.3	25.1	14.1	14.6	518.5
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	n/a

Evaporation (mm) for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual
2024	0.7												0.7
2023	18.8	28.2	47.6	81.6	118.2	137.1	99.5	89.1	67.8	35.5	18.4	19.0	760.8
2022	17.9	32.4	66.5	86.8	114.5	109.2	111.1	113.2	n/a	37.0	22.0	11.4	722.0
2021	10.9	32.1	45.4	89.9	111.2	102.0	117.2	93.5	52.1	34.7	18.6	19.1	726.7
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	n/a

Degree Days Below 15.5 Degrees Celsius for NEWPORT

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Total
2023	275	210	246	171	85	18	39	26	53	118	203	237	1681
2022	256	234	235	171	97	63	30	28	N/A	103	185	320	N/A
2021	325	247	236	200	167	79	20	23	40	114	187	245	1883
2020	257	276	275	143	111	73	55	31	71	156	193	291	1935

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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.
To view the Weather Events for Public Works Contracts data, select a station first, then click the link just below the map.