Raindrops are Finally Falling in Sonoma

Raindrops are falling - finally

We had no rain for 8 months.  I really started worrying in January since it is a month when we usually get only a few glimpses of the sun after weeks and weeks of downpour. A couple of weeks ago we had not seen real rain since before summer. While it is very nice to have 75 degrees and clear skies, after an entire summer, a long fall and the start of winter it does feel a bit eerie. And of course media with the dooms reports added to the sense of a looming catastrophe.  We are in a new era, new weather patterns clearly.

And then at the very end of January the high pressure system which has been parked over California moved a bit south and the jet stream moved in from the North and now we have had over 11 inches of rain in two weeks.

It feels really good; a slight green color is dusting our surroundings, little weeds, grass sprouting here and there. And the earth is getting soft again with water trickling through the wet ground towards the roots.

Growing grapes is all about using resources of water deep down, not surface water. A normal year we get about 40 inches of rain, and we want it in the winter months. We still have quite a bit to go, but now we are back in a weather pattern with days of rain and days of sun in a nice mix. Today I hear the raindrops on our roof and it is a very pleasant sound.