There’s a good chance that the frigid temperatures this past weekend were even more harmful to Okanagan grape vines than last winter.<\/p>\n
Given that 45% of Okanagan grape vines suffered irreparable damage during the winter of 2022\/2023, that’s a huge blow to the industry.<\/p>\n
“I did a really quick look and the buds are all gone, 100% dead," Ben-Min Chang, a scientist at the Summerland Research and Development Centre, told iNFOnews.ca, Jan. 15. <\/p>\n
Those are the buds on the vines grown at the research station.<\/p>\n
READ MORE:<\/strong> Extreme cold warnings giving away to heavy snow this week in the Southern Interior<\/a><\/p>\n He plans to inspect the trunks to see if they too were killed after temperatures dropped to -25 Celsius Saturday morning.<\/p>\n “It’s pretty devastating,” Chang said.<\/p>\n On the weekend, the mercury fell to -26.9 C in Kelowna, -22.9 C in Penticton and -22.3 C in Osoyoos.<\/p>\n Chang has less than an acre of grape vines so what he sees at the Summerland Research Station is just a sample of what may have happened throughout the Okanagan since there are many micro-climates and a wide range of grape varieties planted.<\/p>\n It'll probably take a couple of weeks to get a clearer picture of how widespread the damage is and a few months to really know the full impact.<\/p>\n “So far, I just have a rough guess,” Chang said. “Based on the temperature data the impact will be bigger than last year. I'm worried about the vine cells being killed in certain places.”<\/p>\n To contact a reporter for this story, <\/span>email Rob Munro<\/a> or call 250-808-0143 or <\/span>email the editor<\/a>. You can also submit<\/span>photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom<\/a> and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.<\/span><\/p>\n
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