Bloomington, Minnesota
Best weekend slot
Saturday 8am–11am
Verdict: Good
growing slowly — growth potential 0.28
Next mow
Today 7pm–8pm
Verdict: Good
ground soft — 82mm rain over the last week
The next 10 days
Column height is how mowable the day is; the lighter band is the best stretch within it. The line is soil temperature at 6cm. It crosses the seeding threshold inside this forecast.
12.5°C — seeding
Soil at 6cm 28.0°C cooling to 0.0°C
Tuesday 1 September: Good. 7pm–8pm — ground soft — 82mm rain over the last week
Tuesday 1 September · 7pm–8pmConfident
7pm–8pm — ground soft — 82mm rain over the last week
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Saturday
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft82mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.84
- Marginal:Temperature
- Heat stress26°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light5 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but fine
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Wednesday 2 September: Good. 8am–5pm — ground soft in places — 82mm rain over the last week
Wednesday 2 September · 8am–5pmConfident
8am–5pm — ground soft in places — 82mm rain over the last week
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places82mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.88
- Marginal:Temperature
- Temperature18°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light2 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Thursday 3 September: Good. 8am–midday — ground soft in places — 83mm rain over the last week
Thursday 3 September · 8am–middayConfident
8am–midday — ground soft in places — 83mm rain over the last week
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places83mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.51
- Poor:Temperature
- Temperature21°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light8 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Friday 4 September: Good. 9am–11am — grass dry — rain earlier today
Friday 4 September · 9am–11amConfident
9am–11am — grass dry — rain earlier today
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places83mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Growth
- Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.32
- Poor:Temperature
- Temperature22°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light3 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts once the dew has burnt off
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Saturday 5 September: Good. 8am–11am — growing slowly — growth potential 0.28
Saturday 5 September · 8am–11amReasonably confident
8am–11am — growing slowly — growth potential 0.28
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm85mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Growth
- Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.28
- Poor:Temperature
- Temperature22°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light5 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts once the dew has burnt off
Limiting factor:growth
Sunday 6 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
Sunday 6 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass drydried off since a shower 4 hours ago
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft4mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.53
- Marginal:Temperature
- Temperature21°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light10 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Monday 7 September: Good. 5pm–8pm — ground soft — 58mm rain over the last week
Monday 7 September · 5pm–8pmReasonably confident
5pm–8pm — ground soft — 58mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass drydried off since a shower 0 hours ago
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft58mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.67
- Marginal:Temperature
- Temperature22°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light4 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts once the rain has passed
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Tuesday 8 September: Not worth it. No — 0.7mm of rain falling.
Tuesday 8 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — 0.7mm of rain falling.
- Poor:Grass wetness
- Grass wetraining now
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft61mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.94
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature16°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light18 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Wednesday 9 September: Not worth it. No — ground frozen.
Wednesday 9 SeptemberLow confidence this far out
No — ground frozen.
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass drydried off since a shower 5 hours ago
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft68mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.96
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature21°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light16 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Thursday 10 September: Not worth it. No — ground frozen.
Thursday 10 SeptemberLow confidence this far out
No — ground frozen.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft69mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.73
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature14°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light17 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Soil temperature
82°F28.0°C
at 6cm — germination depth
Cooling over the next 11 days.
Too warm to seed — the soil is heat-stressed. Wait for it to cool.
Most cool-season lawns in the northern US and Canada are bluegrass, tall fescue, or a mix of the two. We assume that, and use12.5°C as the seeding threshold.
I know what grass I have
The differences are small. Ryegrass is the quickest off the mark; bluegrass is the slowest and wants the warmest soil. Everything else sits between.
| Species | Soil temp | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Perennial ryegrass | 8°C | 5–10 |
| Red / chewings fescue | 8–10°C | 10–14 |
| Tall fescuelikely yours | 10–12°C | 10–14 |
| Browntop bentColonial bentgrass | 10–12°C | 14–21 |
| Smooth-stalked meadow grassKentucky bluegrasslikely yours | 12–13°C | 14–28 |
What this means right now
Warning: Too warm to seed
Too warm to seed — the soil is heat-stressed. Wait for it to cool.
Warning: Heat stress
Tuesday 1 September gets hot enough to stress the sward. Mow early or late, and raise the height.
Worth watching: Ground still soft
82mm rain over the last week. A mower will mark it, and a ride-on will rut it.
Forecast from Open-Meteo, refreshed hourly. Soil temperature is modelled, not measured — how that works and where the thresholds come from.