The Weblog
This page contains news, event information, and other items added by Ian and Adam, the resident farmers at Old 99. We send out a message every week, but most are set with a delete date about two weeks later. I archive some of the posts if they have content other than weekly availability of produce and meat.
You can send me questions too, which if they are of a general nature, I can post to this Old99 blog.
Old 99 Farm, week of May 17 2015
What’s El Nino? What’s SST? See below for some news and pics.
We’ve started getting the front garden planted, with squash, kale, cabbages and green chard already in. Tomato, pepper and eggplant stay in the greenhouse till it gets warmer. But looks like a dry summer so vegetable production will be difficult.
Now offering a special on rhubarb at $5/kg. Buy some ahead and freeze for use with the famous strawberry and rhubarb crumble!
So El Nino… This doesn’t happen every year, this year 90% likely. What this means, especially when we add in likely record warm global atmospheric temperatures (due to an excessive burning of fossil fuels by human beings) throughout the El Nino event period, is some rather odd, and probably extreme summer weather.
El Niño is defined by prolonged warming in the Pacific Ocean sea surface temperatures (yes, that would be SST)when compared with the average value. Typically, this anomaly happens at irregular intervals of two to seven years, and lasts nine months to two years. The average period length is five years.
Canada among others may actually benefit from an El Niño weather shock (either directly or indirectly through positive spillovers from major trading partners. Furthermore, most countries experience short-run inflationary pressures following an El Niño shock, while global energy and non-fuel commodity prices increase. (all from Wikipedia)
For the US, it means an increasing likelihood of heavy precipitation events from the southern plains states through the desert southwest. Storm track intensification through the Pacific to North America means that extreme rainfall events are a distinct possibility for states like Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico. California may even see some abnormal summer rainfall, taking a bit of the edge off the current drought.
Some believed our ice storm in January 1998, which devastated parts of New England, southern Ontario and southern Quebec, was caused or accentuated by El Niño’s warming effects. El Niño warmed Vancouver for the 2010 Winter Olympics, such that the area experienced a warmer than average winter during the games.
Link to Robert’s Scribbler blog for more on this year’s El Nino event.