# Winter is here!



## mgmarty (Dec 16, 2013)

coldest day was Dec. 1st. It got down to 0.


----------



## BobR (Dec 16, 2013)

Hmmm, must be a Riverton thing! Winter also arrived in Riverton, IL over the weekend with seven inches of snow


----------



## BobR (Dec 16, 2013)

We now need a winter photo from Riverton, Wyoming.


----------



## CowboyRam (Dec 16, 2013)

Ok, here is a picture of my vineyard in Riverton Wyoming. Next spring I will plant 25 St. Croix, 33 Petite Pearl, and 33 Somerset seedless.





[/IMG]


what little snow we did have before Thanksgiving is mostly gone now. At noon today it was 56 Degrees outside. There is a little bit of snow where sun can't get to it, but that may not last long if the wind keeps blowing.


----------



## BobR (Dec 16, 2013)

56 degrees! Wow, it's been so cold here that I didn't even bother leaving the house the past two days. Had a light dusting of snow this morning, but things are supposed to warm up for the next three days and I'll take it.


----------



## Pumpkinman (Dec 16, 2013)

Almost a foot of snow on the ground, 4 more inches coming in overnight into tomorrow......Blah!


----------



## CowboyRam (Dec 16, 2013)

Starting December 1 all we got was cold no snow. I Wish we would have go some snow then at least it would have been warmer. The last few days have been fairly nice.


----------



## mgmarty (Dec 17, 2013)

Looks like you will have a white christmas bobr! Love the pics! We also are suppose to warm up, hoping to not have a muddy christmas here. Cowboyram i control the airtraffic into your airport. I did not realize the weather had been so warm there. Your vineyard looks well prepared for your vines. This is the first winter for mine. I was kind of hoping for a mild one. Good luck!


----------



## grapeman (Dec 17, 2013)

Here we have only about 8 inches of snow we got when it was about 10 degrees out. It is now -12F right now and is around -25 to -30F in the outlying mountain valleys (Adirondacks). 

There sure are a lot of Rivertons here on the forum!


----------



## BobR (Dec 17, 2013)

Well, so much for it being sunny with a high of 35 today!


----------



## mgmarty (Dec 18, 2013)

Holy crap Bobr! Would expect that from Riverton WY! Grapeman i had no idea it got that cold where your at, you win!!


----------



## CowboyRam (Dec 18, 2013)

Last week it was -16 most mornings, and by the time we went out to the cows it had not warmed up much; we were lucky to make 10 above most days. It has been real nice feeding this week with the warmer weather. It looks like we may see some snow on Thursday.


----------



## BobR (Dec 18, 2013)

Yeah, with my new grapes being planted this year, some as late as October, I was hoping for somewhat of a normal winter for them, but this stuff, this early can't be good. If the snow would stay to insulate them, I'd be OK with that, but we are supposed to get in the mid-40's for a couple of days and then snow and freezing rain for the weekend.
Last year, I gambled and planted some grapes in Oct and they came out fine this spring. I put some soil around the plants and mulched the rows and of course it was not too bad of a winter. I thought that I'd gamble again this year when I found some marked down grape plants on sale at Lowe's, so it will be interesting to see if they come out in the spring. 
You can keep those temperatures out in Wyoming, or to my surprise New York! Darn global warming!


----------



## BobR (Dec 18, 2013)

CowboyRam said:


> Last week it was -16 most mornings, and by the time we went out to the cows it had not warmed up much; we were lucky to make 10 above most days. It has been real nice feeding this week with the warmer weather. It looks like we may see some snow on Thursday.



What would be the earliest/safest time for you to plant grapes out there? Normally, how long would your growing season be?

Ha, Don't Squat With Your Spurs On! Did you ever read that book? Oh gosh, 15 -20 years ago, there was a group of us who shot in the cowboy action shoots and the one female that traveled with us (national Champion in her class back then) gave me that book. I'll have to see if I still have it.


----------



## sour_grapes (Dec 18, 2013)

Evidently, real cowboys _do_ wear nametags. 

Hello, I'm 
Wyatt Earp​


----------



## CowboyRam (Dec 18, 2013)

I was planning on a delivery date to be that first week in May, and to get them planted soon after. If need be I do have walk in cooler that I could keep them dormant in for a few days. No I have not read that book.


----------



## BobR (Dec 18, 2013)

sour_grapes said:


> Evidently, real cowboys _do_ wear nametags.
> 
> Hello, I'm
> Wyatt Earp​



After a few hours in the local saloon drinking that rot gut, it helps identify ya when you're passed out on the street.

Really, you can plant in early May? Do you mulch the rows, or do anything to protect the roots? Soil temperatures coming up by then?


----------



## BobR (Dec 18, 2013)

CowboyRam said:


> I was planning on a delivery date to be that first week in May, and to get them planted soon after. If need be I do have walk in cooler that I could keep them dormant in for a few days. No I have not read that book.



Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day!


----------



## Runningwolf (Dec 18, 2013)

Well we have kicked everyone's a$$ in the most snowfall in the country so far. Erie, Pa is about 14 miles north of me has got over 45" of snow so far and that is double of the next closest city. I'm about 15 miles south of them and we get all the lake effect snow fall resulting in about 25% more.


----------



## BobR (Dec 18, 2013)

Hmmm.....Yeah, I'd say you have some snow! Ha, in years past, I always dreamed of living in a two room cabin in the mountains of Wyoming or Montana. In the fall I'd pack it full of supplies and everything that I would need to survive a long winter. Now, 2 1/2 years into retirement, I'm thinking some place a little warmer. Not necessarily the deep south, since I wouldn't like a place that did not have 4 seasons, but maybe some place like southern Tennessee. or Missouri.


----------



## GreginND (Jan 2, 2014)

There's a reason I need to be very careful choosing which varieties to grow. Hoo boy, we're in for some extreme changes.


----------



## grapeman (Jan 2, 2014)

So far today at 1 PM it has made it up to -12F with the wind at 15-20 mph with light snow falling.


----------



## mgmarty (Jan 2, 2014)

It has gotten into the 40s the past two days. What a way to start the year! Bees have even been out. Snow is melting. Nice, but I know it can't last.


----------



## jamesngalveston (Jan 2, 2014)

dang greg...thats cold are you close to fargo....


----------



## Runningwolf (Jan 2, 2014)

Well it's about 10° here but we still hold the snowiest city in the country so far. I live about 15 miles south of Erie and we've easily got 25-30 more inches than them but we're just a small college town.


----------



## jamesngalveston (Jan 3, 2014)

that is crazy runningwolf, thats higher then most of our high tides in the summer.....sorry my friend, i would move...hows the wine cellar.....


----------



## vernsgal (Jan 3, 2014)

Well it's 7 C ( roughly 45 F)here right now...


----------



## GreginND (Jan 3, 2014)

Yes I live in Fargo. Actually I am a little jealous of Runningwolf. We don't have that much snow and with these temps I would prefer a couple feet of insulation for the grapes.


----------



## garymc (Jan 3, 2014)

I'm seeing some low temps getting close to zero F in Southeast Missouri. This winter may be the test to see if muscadine grapes will survive and reliably produce this far north.


----------



## Runningwolf (Jan 3, 2014)

Greg remember it all melted two weeks ago but came back with a vengeance several days ago. Now we are up to 70" with the storm yesterday. We are very concerned about losing vines now due to the cold.


----------



## BobR (Jan 3, 2014)

mgmarty said:


> It has gotten into the 40s the past two days. What a way to start the year! Bees have even been out. Snow is melting. Nice, but I know it can't last.



Forget going to Florida, it sounds like Riverton, Utah is the place to be this winter. It's -5 this morning with some snow on the ground and Mondays high is supposed to be -1. I guess that there is no use in worrying about the grapes....we'll see how they look in the spring. We haven't had a cold winter like this in a long time. On the bright side, maybe this cold will help kill off some of the insects and I'd rather be here than you guys in ND, NY or PA. I hate global warming!


----------



## wpt-me (Jan 3, 2014)

Got 3 or 4" snow yesterday and the temp is trying to get to
+ 1. Probably have about a foot and a half on the ground.
In the western foothills Maine.

bill


----------



## GreginND (Jan 3, 2014)

Dan, if they are buried in that much snow, I would think they would ok. But it looks like you are in for some roller coaster temps. Fortunately your bitter cold snaps are only a day or two in-between some warmer weather. So, hopefully, if the vines are insulated with snow, they won't have time to get too cold before it warms up again. The snow will temper the swings. Crossing my fingers for you folks.


----------



## Runningwolf (Jan 3, 2014)

The problem Greg is we had some very high winds, so the snow has been going all over the place. Some bare spots and high drifts else where. Some grapes are more delicate than others (don't ask me which). The real danger comes when it's -5° or colder. At that temp your killing of the vines. Root structure is still ok but it'll be two years before you get product again. I am not an expert on this. This is what I got from talking to a grower yesterday.


----------



## BobR (Jan 4, 2014)

With snow piled up outside the door, my little fig tree is getting ready to leaf out and I have 4 grape plants growing. With a winter storm warning in effect, it's nice to see some green. Makes me think that spring is right around the corner...yeah right!


----------



## jamesngalveston (Jan 4, 2014)

runningwolf just saw on the news, you fixing to get even colder, good luck.


----------



## mgmarty (Jan 4, 2014)

Man you guys are making it seem really nice to be here in Utah. We did get an inch of snow last night, but the high today was still 35 with a low of 23. Nice sunny day too.


----------



## CowboyRam (Jan 4, 2014)

We got 8 inches last night in here in Riverton Wyoming.


----------



## BobR (Jan 5, 2014)

CowboyRam said:


> We got 8 inches last night in here in Riverton Wyoming.



Hey, glad to hear that you will get some moisture in the ground! Around here, the snow never stays on the ground long enough to help insulate when the cold temperatures are around. I just hope that this cold helps to kill off the tick and Japanese Beetle population. I don't think that we have had cold and snow like this in 20 years.....been a little spoiled.


----------



## Pat57 (Jan 7, 2014)

Its almost -20F here now. I was actually hoping we would get a cold winter to see how hardy some of my vines are. I bought about 10 different varieties from Double A including some vinifera vines like Ives, Chancellor, Zweigelt, Dornfelder, Cabernet Franc and Lemberger. Also testing Landot Noir, Regent, Leon Millet and a few others that should be cold hardy like Petite Pearl and Marquette. We have about 8" of snow cover and I'm not giving the vines any protection at all. If they don't survive they won't be planted again. I expect at least 1/2 won't make it. We'll find out in spring I guess. 

Pat


----------



## mgmarty (Jan 7, 2014)

Pat57 said:


> Its almost -20F here now. I was actually hoping we would get a cold winter to see how hardy some of my vines are. I bought about 10 different varieties from Double A including some vinifera vines like Ives, Chancellor, Zweigelt, Dornfelder, Cabernet Franc and Lemberger. Also testing Landot Noir, Regent, Leon Millet and a few others that should be cold hardy like Petite Pearl and Marquette. We have about 8" of snow cover and I'm not giving the vines any protection at all. If they don't survive they won't be planted again. I expect at least 1/2 won't make it. We'll find out in spring I guess.
> 
> Pat



Keep us posted. I would be interested to see which ones do and don't make it


----------



## Julie (Jan 7, 2014)

It is currently -10F, it gonna be a little nippy headed to work this morning.


----------



## spaniel (Jan 7, 2014)

-14F here the last two mornings; supposed to warm up tomorrow. We do have a foot or more of snow on the ground, so I'm hoping for the best. It will break my heart if the whole vineyard dies back to the ground.


----------



## Pat57 (Jan 7, 2014)

mgmarty said:


> Keep us posted. I would be interested to see which ones do and don't make it



Sure, will do. I fully expect the Petite Pearl and Marquette to survive, they are rated to about -40F or so. Some of the others are rated for zone 5 (-20F) but I have my doubts. I even tried a few zone 6-7 vines like Cabernet and Merlot. I did cover those grafts up to at least hopefully keep them alive. I only bought one each of the vinifera to try. That's probably not a good representation of each variety, but they were all good and healthy going into dormancy.

Pat


----------



## Pumpkinman (Jan 7, 2014)

1° today with a wind chill of -14°....brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Last night around 2;30 am, our wood deck was popping and cracking like crazy from the intense cold!


----------



## ckvchestnut (Jan 7, 2014)

On one if our -39c days I noticed not only the normal lacing patterns on my windows but this cool pearl or beading pattern! Never seen it like that before and have seen it since then but only I those EXTREMELY cold days. It's alien weather lol JK! 
I know it's weird but we've been getting January weather in December and it started long before the official first day of winter and now we're getting Feb weather in January! Let's hope spring comes early too!


----------



## Julie (Jan 7, 2014)

Pumpkinman said:


> 1° today with a wind chill of -14°....brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! Last night around 2;30 am, our wood deck was popping and cracking like crazy from the intense cold!


 
LOL, so was ours, I actually jumped a couple of times it was so loud


----------



## Runningwolf (Jan 7, 2014)

Hey I was wondering if anyone else had that. Our house is only 14 years old but there was loud cracking and popping. Our deck was doing the same. What is the cause of this. Anyone else have this.


----------



## jamesngalveston (Jan 7, 2014)

I use to be a structural engineer..long time ago.
There is two types of loads on a deck, shear load and moment load.
In the extreme cold wood are composites can get so compressed that the moment load will make them constrict so fast that it creates sounds and just wait till this summer....you will here that popping again, and you will have to rescrew are nail the deck boards down.....
You may have some split and come up...
In prudhoe bay alaska we used a board type out of teflon to keep this from happening...


----------



## grapeman (Jan 7, 2014)

Here earlier this week we had cryoseisms which were similar to what you heard only bigger. The soil surface gets wet and then the cold weather makes it crack creating mini-quakes. See the video on the link to one of our TV stations http://www.wptz.com/news/vermont-ne...sm/-/8869880/23719742/-/1000mfmz/-/index.html


----------



## Floandgary (Jan 7, 2014)

Sooo,,, anyone wanna try some cold stabilization??? LOL. BTW, I remember cold snaps like this lasting nearly a week and trees exploding in the woods. Now I don't go out in the woods when it's like this..


----------



## ckvchestnut (Jan 7, 2014)

Floandgary said:


> Sooo,,, anyone wanna try some cold stabilization??? LOL. BTW, I remember cold snaps like this lasting nearly a week and trees exploding in the woods. Now I don't go out in the woods when it's like this..



About the only thing to stabilize this winter is the wine! I won't be stabilized til spring comes!


----------

