Dear all,

For most cultivars, bud break has already happened on Winegrapes at lower elevations in the Yadkin Valley, the coast or the Southern Foothills. Higher elevations in the Yadkin Valley should be at budswell at this point of time in the early cultivars.

Trends of warm and cold weather and heavy rainfalls in between will continue over the next two weeks. Highest frost threats will be Sunday (4/10) and Monday (4/11) mornings, with some areas in the West seeing Frost already on Saturday (4/9).

These will be radiational events, so the use of wind machines to protect your tissue will help, especially Sunday and Monday night! Due to higher windspeed on Saturday, we do not recommend to use windmachines on Saturday.

General Discussion

A continued trend of multiple upper level disturbances moving
from West to East will prevail in the next couple weeks.

This will mean the recent trends of showers and storm
chances every few days, with warming ahead of each one, and
colder behind them to continue.

Highest freeze and frost risks looks to be Sunday (4/10) and Monday (4/11) morning,
but a few Western and Northern areas could experience
or frost as early as Saturday morning.

Temperatures Maps & Recommendations

Figure 1: Minimum Temperatures for the region from 4/9-4/11 2022.

Please monitor you current weather, and especially predicted wet bulb and dewpoint temperatures for your location. We are facing a frost threat in the coming days. Clear nights with min temperatures in the 30s can already cause damage to tender tissue!

The use of win machines on Sunday and Monday night or the use of overhead sprinklers should protect your tissue from the predicted frost threat this weekend.

If overhead sprinklers are used, it is important to start early, especially with low predicted dew-points.

Table 1. Relationship to predicted dew point and start of overhead irrigation for frost protection.

Detailed Regional Forecasts:

North Carolina

South Carolina:

Georgia:

Virginia: