UCCE Vineyard Temperature Study
Project Description
The UC Cooperative Extension has been conducting an ongoing evaluation of air temperatures in the vineyard regions of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties. This project has been funded in part by donations from area growers.
The purpose of this study is to quantify the regional temperatures on a very fine scale, over as many years as will be possible. The project began in 2007 in Santa Barbara County and in 2008 in San Luis Obispo County. Currently there are 59 temperature stations which continually record temperatures throughout the region. Collectively this information is creating the most comprehensive public temperature record available for any region in California. Given the predictions for significant changes in global and regional temperatures in the near future, having very detailed local temperature information will be a key factor for helping evaluate how temperatures may be changing locally, and for making data-driven decisions for temperature-dependent factors such as variety selection and the need for frost protection.
The data from this study is posted online once per year at the website below:
http://cesanluisobispo.ucdavis.edu/Viticulture/Vineyard_temperature/
The data has been used for conducting detailed analysis of the local temperature conditions; these articles are available in the Grape Notes Newsletter, available at the website below:
http://cesanluisobispo.ucdavis.edu/Viticulture/GRAPE_NOTES_Newsletter/
