When powerful winds strike bare, exposed soil or dry land, it can scoop up huge amounts of sand and dust into the sky, creating a sandstorm. The occurrence and size of the storm is determined by wind speed, amount of vegetation covering the soil, moisture and temperature. Northwestern and northern China all too familiar with these sandstorm events. Last weekend, on 17 February, conditions were right for generating a massive sandstorm across wide-ranging parts of Xinjiang Autonomous Region in northwestern China, from Kashgar and Turpan in the west of the province to the city of Hami in the east. Xinjiang is the largest grape and wine producing region in China, with 83,000 acres of wine grapes in cultivation, about twice the size of Napa. The majority of vineyards are located in this west to east band. Notably, all these vines are buried with half to one meter of soil in the late fall for winter protection. The soil is plowed away from the vines in the spring to uncover them. Needless to say, with all the drastic soil disruption twice a year, growing a permanent ground cover in the vineyards is not an option. These vineyards are very susceptible to wind erosion of their topsoil, especially when major sandstorms like recent one sweep through the area. One of the arguments for growing cold hardy grape varieties, which do not have to be buried, instead of vinifera types, is that it would allow a more ecological approach to vineyard soil management, with permanent, erosion resistant cover crops. Sandstorms in China are usually attributed to the destruction of vegetation, e.g. “desertification”, in the northwest provinces and in Mongolia to the north. Lack of vegetation provides the exposed soil that is picked up by the high winds to make a storm. Recent research described in the article below by the South China Morning Post attributes the size of the sandstorms like the one last weekend to the trend for more frequent occurrence of these high-powered, high speed winds. Check out this link for news coverage of the 17 February sandstorm event. news.cgtn.com/news/2024-02-19/Massive-sandstorm-engulfs-China-s-Xinjiang-1rk7HgZt0wo/p.html#:~:text=A%20severe%20sandstorm%20has%20cloaked,was%20engulfed%20in%20a%20haze. Download the pdf for the South China Morning Post article here
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Tom Plocher, owner, Plocher Vines, LLC. Archives
February 2024
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