Heat, wildfires threaten California crops

...The North Bay's wine country is again under threat after a series of devastating fires in the region in the last three years. The state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported about 31,500 acres blackened in Napa County — from the Hennessey, Gamble, 15-10, Spanish and Markley fires — as of 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, with zero containment and 1,900 structures threatened, according to the Napa Valley Register. Some 1,900 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. customers in Napa County were without power, according to the newspaper. Other blazes have engulfed rural and forest areas near Salinas, around Oroville Dam north of Sacramento, west of Silicon Valley and near the Nevada state line north of Lake Tahoe, the AP reports.The wildfires come amid a blistering hot summer that has seen temperatures soar above 110 degrees in inland valleys and even along the coast, notes the National Agricultural Statistics Service. In Red Bluff, Tuesday's high of 108 degrees marked the 13th day in August that afternoon temperatures reached 100 or higher, according to the National Weather Service. Fresno has seen 12 triple-digit days in August, including Tuesday's high of 107 degrees. The heat and smoke are causing no shortage of complications as workers are harvesting a multitude of crops, including early-variety almonds, table grapes, plums, apricots, oranges and numerous summer vegetables. Smoke in the North Bay threatens the quality of wine grapes that are close to harvest. In 2018, smoke from the Mendocino Complex Fires destroyed the market for an estimated $41 million in wine grapes grown in vineyards near burned areas. In other areas, thick smoke can hamper honey bee activity. Harvests are also still in high gear for strawberries on the Central Coast, where periods of unusually high temperatures are causing damage, according to a University of California Cooperative Extension advisor...MORE