Hagerstown, Maryland

Best weekend slot

Monday 10am–3pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft — 104mm rain over the last week

Next mow

Sunday 3pm–8pm

Verdict: Good

ground soft — 104mm rain over the last week

How you feel about mowing

Sensible middle ground.

Petrol or battery. The baseline.

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 26.0°C cooling to 0.0°C

Tuesday 1 September: Not worth it. No — heat stress, 29°C.

Tuesday 1 SeptemberConfident

No — heat stress, 29°C.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Thursday
Good:Ground firmness
Ground firm0mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.54
Poor:Temperature
Heat stress27°C
Good:Wind
Wind light14 km/h

Limiting factor:temperature

Wednesday 2 September: Good. No — 100.1mm of rain falling.

Wednesday 2 SeptemberConfident

No — 100.1mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Thursday
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft0mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.56
Marginal:Temperature
Temperature22°C
Good:Wind
Wind light4 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Thursday 3 September: Good. No — ground saturated, 101mm rain over the last week.

Thursday 3 SeptemberConfident

No — ground saturated, 101mm rain over the last week.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft101mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.41
Poor:Temperature
Temperature22°C
Good:Wind
Wind light5 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Friday 4 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Friday 4 SeptemberConfident

No — 0.1mm of rain falling.

Marginal:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 3 hours ago
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft100mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.51
Marginal:Temperature
Temperature22°C
Good:Wind
Wind light4 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Saturday 5 September: Good. No — ground soft, 104mm rain over the last week.

Saturday 5 SeptemberReasonably confident

No — ground soft, 104mm rain over the last week.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryrain earlier today
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft104mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.96
Good:Temperature
Temperature16°C
Good:Wind
Wind light8 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Sunday 6 September: Good. 3pm–8pm — ground soft — 104mm rain over the last week

Sunday 6 September · 3pm–8pmReasonably confident

3pm–8pm — ground soft — 104mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Friday
Poor:Ground firmness
Ground soft104mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.95
Good:Temperature
Temperature12°C
Good:Wind
Wind light10 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighbours

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Monday 7 September: Good. 10am–3pm — ground soft — 104mm rain over the last week

Monday 7 September · 10am–3pmReasonably confident

10am–3pm — ground soft — 104mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Friday
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft104mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.97
Marginal:Temperature
Temperature15°C
Good:Wind
Wind light1 km/h
Sociable hours
Fine by the neighboursstarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Tuesday 8 September: Good. 8am–1pm — ground soft in places — 104mm rain over the last week

Tuesday 8 September · 8am–1pmReasonably confident

8am–1pm — ground soft in places — 104mm rain over the last week

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Friday
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places104mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.86
Marginal:Temperature
Temperature17°C
Good:Wind
Wind light9 km/h
Sociable hours
A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Wednesday 9 September: Not worth it. No — ground frozen.

Wednesday 9 SeptemberLow confidence this far out

No — ground frozen.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass dryno rain since Friday
Marginal:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places104mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.96
Good:Temperature
Temperature20°C
Good:Wind
Wind light3 km/h

Limiting factor:ground firmness

Thursday 10 September: Not worth it. No — ground frozen.

Thursday 10 SeptemberLow confidence this far out

No — ground frozen.

Good:Grass wetness
Grass drydried off since a shower 0 hours ago
Good:Ground firmness
Ground soft in places5mm rain over the last week
Good:Growth
Growing wellgrowth potential 0.69
Poor:Temperature
Temperature21°C
Good:Wind
Wind light17 km/h

Limiting factor:grass wetness

Soil temperature

80°F26.6°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.

Soil temperature at 6cm for reliable germination. Sources onthe method page.
SpeciesSoil tempDays
Perennial ryegrass8°C5–10
Red / chewings fescue8–10°C10–14
Tall fescuelikely yours10–12°C10–14
Browntop bentColonial bentgrass10–12°C14–21
Smooth-stalked meadow grassKentucky bluegrasslikely yours12–13°C14–28

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

    0mm rain over the last week. A mower will mark it, and a ride-on will rut it.

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Forecast from Open-Meteo, refreshed hourly. Soil temperature is modelled, not measured — how that works and where the thresholds come from.