Saturday, August 27, 2011

Hurricane Irene and the Northeast Grape Growing Season

If this year hasn't already been a challenging year for grape growing, we are currently bracing for the impact of Hurricane Irene.
I've been mindful of the weather this year, superimposing the weather on the grape growing season. It was a cool spring that morphed into a foggy, cooler than normal summer. Our friends told us that veraison was at least two weeks later than last year, but rather normal for the Northeast. However, around the time of veraison, there was a tropical storm that came through Connecticut on August 15th bringing in it's wake 5-7 inches of rain. I could just see the grapes swelling and bloating with all that rain!
The newscasters are saying that the hurricane is losing some of it's integrity around the eye, but that it will still pack some serious winds and rain.

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