California's Hottest Summer on Record

June, July, and August 2017 are going down as the warmest summer on record for California. With records going back to the 1890s the state has mostly been running warmer than average since 2000. This summer is more than three degrees above the statewide average--and the hottest ever.

Some of the many records:

• Every day in July Sacramento topped out at 90 degrees or better.
• San Francisco set an all-time high of 106 on Sept 1st.
• Calistoga, in Napa Valley, set a record high for Sept 2nd of 112 degrees breaking the old high by eight degrees set it 1998. 
• San Diego County had its highest ever temp. of 124 in late August.
• To the north Portland, OR has its first ever Labor Day weekend where all three days had a high of at least 90 degrees averaging 10+ degrees above the daily averages.

In the Sonoma/Napa area we had a long stretch of hot weather from July into early August then a shorter record-breaking stretch in late-Aug/early-Sept. Over Labor Day weekend many spots in Sonoma County came close to their all-time record temperatures. Santa Rosa in Sonoma County had four straight days of 100+ degrees at the end of Aug and beginning of Sept with Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend hitting 110 -- just short of the all time high.

All of this after a winter of record precipitation.

If this continues will it affect wine grapes and other crops? Of course. For wine lets use an example of Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County Zinfandel vs. Lodi, Central Valley Zin. The ones from Lodi are, in general, softer (lower acid), rounder, fruitier, and higher alcohol. This is a product of the hotter day and nighttime temps in the Central Valley throughout the growing season. So will Dry Creek become the new Lodi and Lodi gets just too damn hot for premium wine grapes? I dunno, but it will be different than it is now.