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Wine - All eyes on the weather By: Richard Robson
Our grape growing weather obsession is in high gear at the moment as we head toward the hotter months of the year. It’s been a great start to the season, with generally mild to warm weather and not too much rain north of Auckland at this stage. NIWA says that we are currently experiencing moderate La Niña conditions through to mid-2021. La Niña is one extreme of the phenomenon called The Southern Oscillation, the other extreme being El Niño.
This is great news for grapegrowers at the moment, and also the population in general, as La Niña will bring warmer than average sea temperatures and a warmer than average summer for most of the North Island. What does worry us as grapegrowers is the increased chance of a tropical cyclone or two brushing past us and dumping a large amount of rain between February and April. One big rain event might be okay, but two in the space of two or three weeks can spell disaster for our crop. Once th