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I started seeing some news on the mainstream press that we might be heading into an El Nino year, which has me dancing a little jig! We have all heard the term El Nino/La Nina, but what does it mean to me here in the Pacific Northwest?
As you can see from this image on the left, when the El Nino is in command the jet stream and storm track heads straight into California (which will be a good thing for them and their drought) leaving us alone here the in the PNW and generally giving us warm and sunny conditions. Which is always a good thing for the grapes here. The timing and strength of this El Nino are still being debated and the computers are chugging away trying to figure it out, but the general consensus is that we will start to feel the effects of El Nino some time this summer and generally they last for several months to a year or so. The early predictions are calling for a fairly strong El Nino, maybe not like we have seen since 1998. I first started growing grapes in 1998 and I remember how hot it was that summer. The vintage down in Oregon was big and the grapes got really ripe and it was dry all the way through harvest. We experienced something similar in 2012, but nearly as strong as 1998. These vintages are for the red grapes, Pinot Noir, Regent mainly. If I were a betting man, I would be planting a lot of tomatoes in the garden this year. Here is to hoping that we get a hot/dry summer here in the Seattle area!
