One of the best contributors to the Grape blog is back providing the weather update, Jeff Franklin from AAFC Kentville! Thanks to him, we’re able to observe graphs showing the evolution of the climate at the beginning and throughout the growing season. In this publication, it’s possible to see the degree days accumulation in the air.
The first table shows the temperature base 5⁰ C and 10⁰ C from 2019 until 2022 accumulated from March 1 until May 2. At the end
of each section, it’s possible to see the average of the last 5 and 10 years
respectively.
|
Category |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
5 year
average |
10
year average |
|
Plant
development (Base 5ºC) |
105.1 |
65.1 |
148.1 |
101.9 |
106.8 |
104.5 |
|
Insect
development (Base 10º) |
28.9 |
10.5 |
47.0 |
20.6 |
32.5 |
33.0 |
Figure 1. Degree day accumulations as of May 2, 2022. All data are taken from the Kentville weather
station, based on a start date of March 1, and calculated using the single sine
method.
2022 has been moving slowly this year, especially if it’s
compared with 2021. This table shows how the season 2021 presents the higher
accumulation of degree days than in the last years until May 2, both for 5 and
10 degrees Celsius, especially compared with 2020. When the values are compared
with the average of the last 5 and 10 years, 2022 shows less than half of the
temperature accumulated in the same period of 2021 based on 10⁰ C.
Figure 2. Degree day accumulations as of May 2, 2022
base 10⁰ C. All data are taken from the
Kentville weather station, based on a start date of March 1, and calculated
using the single sine method.
In the graph, it’s possible to clearly observe the
difference with the last 3 years in the accumulation based on 10⁰ C. Moreover, it’s interesting to see that 2010
and 2012 presented even higher degree days than 2021 and 2022. If you
have vineyard notes from these years, it’s a good idea to keep track and
compare the main observations. I’d like to invite you to track the beginning of
the season in your vineyard to compare with the previous seasons and even the
next one to see when the bud burst is starting in your area.