In the next 30 years, high-value vineyards in Northern California could shrink by 50% because of global warming, according to a new Stanford University study released Thursday.
Applying scenarios from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists used a climate system computer model and found that Napa and Santa Barbara counties could experience very hot days during the growing season, with temperatures reaching 95 Fahrenheit or higher. The number of hot days will be greater, they say, with about 10 more sweltering days than usual.
Summer temperatures in California are almost as hot as they were 120 years ago.
Don’t send your kids to Standford University
The limiting factor for grapevines in Calif is frost protection. They use water from nearby rivers to create an ice coating that protects the grape.
Predictably Standford cares fuck all about the truth or protecting Calif agriculture.
While they piously affect the appearance of concern that “high-value vineyards in Northern California could shrink by 50% because of global warming”!!!!!! ,
their team of enviro thug lawyers are working overtime to make sure it comes true the only way it could happen, by denyng grape growers the water to protect their crop from frosts.
“Loss of water for frost protection would deal a serious blow to crop protection during the early part of season, when vine growth is vulnerable. Mendocino County farm groups say coating the sensitive parts with protective ice at the coldest part of the night is more effective than wind machines because of climate and terrain.
Tucson, Ariz.-based Center for Biological Diversity, Sebastopol-based Northern California River Watch and Point Arena-based Coast Action Group sent a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board and the U.S. Commerce Department, which oversees the National Marine Fisheries Service, informing them they intend to file suit against them in federal court after mid-January.”
Are we sure this was not a product of the drama department?
Despite a marked increase in California grape production, alarmist study predicts collapse of wine industry
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/06/despite-marked-increase-in-california.html