A September 9 story published by National Public Radio (NPR) asks: Can America’s most popular red wine survive climate change? The answer is yes, even though the story falsely suggests the opposite. The data shows that Napa valley grapes have withstood warmer temperatures in the past, and despite more than 30 years of global warming, wine production has increased in the region.
Here are some excerpts from the article:
But the increasingly severe heat wave affected the variety of grapes, especially at the end of summer when ripening. As temperatures continue to rise, the wine industry is slowly facing a future where Napa may no longer be the best cabernet region.
…
The vineyard has been located in the warmer north end of Napa Valley, but the extreme heat in recent years has been a wake-up call. The last heat wave in 2022 reached temperatures below 120 degrees in the vineyards, he said.
“When it heats up, the wine, it’s done,” he said. “They will become dormant, and when that happens, they will never ripen again.”
First, author Lauren Sommer combines short-term heat waves with long-term climate change. Second, according to temperature records, when the Napa Valley set a new high temperature record of 114°F on September 6.Th In 2022, it will be only one degree warmer than the previous record high temperature of 113°F, setting the global warming 61 years ago, in 1961.
A one-degree difference in one day in 61 years does not indicate climate change, but only natural weather variations. Weather does not run at the same time as climate. Figure 1 below, plotted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows the average monthly high temperature for September. It is clear that NAPA county has experienced many hot Septembers throughout its history. Some are even higher than September 2022 when the average for the entire month:
Note that many past Septembers had average monthly temperatures higher than or equal to September 2022.
In a table provided by NOAA with a graph plot, it shows that September 2022 is not unusual, ranking 121 out of 129 years for maximum temperature, indicating that the previous eight Septembers were warmer:
In addition, the amount of red wine production shows that the yield is not damaged by the recent temperature. Figure 3, below, traces the production of wine in California, with Napa in green, showing a steady increase in harvested tonnage, not only in the Napa region, but for the entire region:
If long-term climate change were in fact detrimental to wine grape production, the data would probably show the number 3, but it doesn’t. Climate change doesn’t happen in one day of hot temperatures, like what NPR has put together, it happens in a steady rise.
The data suggests NPR’s Lauren Sommer may have drunk too much wine when she wrote the story or, more likely, she failed to look at actual temperature and wine production data before starting to write a story about the “climate change is causing everything bad” narrative; choose anecdotes that fit the narrative.
We can add this understudied story to dozens of similar stories Climate Realism has taken the media to task for incorrect or selective reporting. Obviously, wine grapes can and have suffered from climate change, and the media only deals with scare stories without merit. NPR’s reporting on wine seems to be more of an expression of “sour grapes” in the many alarming climate horror stories that have been debunked, rather than factual reporting of the dangers facing wine and grape production.
Anthony Watts
Anthony Watts is a senior fellow for environment and climate at the Heartland Institute. Watts has been in the weather business in front of, and behind the camera as an on-air television meteorologist since 1978, and now does a daily radio forecast. He has created a weather graphic presentation system for television, specialized weather instrumentation, as well as peer-reviewed papers together on climate issues. He operates the world’s most viewed website on climate, the award-winning website wattsupwiththat.com.
Originally posted on ClimateREALISM
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