Frigid Winter Tough on Grapes

(Wines&Vines) - Grapegrowers east of the Rockies often face cold winters. January 2014 has reinforced that understanding, as temperatures earlier this month dropped to lows not experienced for two decades across the Midwest and into the East. Those low temperatures, accompanied by strong winds, came from a large pocket of very cold air known as a polar vortex, which normally sits over the polar region.

How cold did it get? The Finger Lakes region of New York, with approximately 11,000 acres of grapes, had low temperatures between -3° and -11°F on the east side of Lake Seneca. Overall, New York has 350 wineries and 37,000 acres of grapes. In Pennsylvania, low temperatures ranged from -1°F in Lancaster County to -10°F in Tioga County in the north-central part of the state; Pennsylvania has a total of 13,600 vineyard acres and 172 wineries. The low temperatures in Ohio, with 1,900 acres of grapes and 144 wineries, varied from -6°F in the southeast to -16°F in the northwest.

Vines not as cold hardy

Dr. Imed Dami, associate professor of viticulture at Ohio State University Agricultural Research and Development Center, reported that temperatures in Ohio had been even colder in 2009, when the lows ranged between -7°F and -24°F. “The 2014 cold, however, was different (in a bad way),” he stated. “It was an advective freezing event, meaning a massive cold air (front) moved to our region with windy conditions. To make matters worse, the lowest temperatures lingered for hours. In 2009, the minimum temperatures were reached and stayed for a short time (minutes instead of hours) and resulted from a radiative freeze with calm conditions.”