Soil temperature in Kingston, Ontario
Soil temperature
20.4°C69°F
at 6cm — germination depth
Cooling over the next 11 days.
Seeding conditions are open — soil is 20.4°C at 6cm and holding above 12.5°C.
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 |
Soil temperature at 6cm in Kingston, Ontario is currently 20.4°C, and falling about 19.1°C over the next 11 days. That depth matters because it is where grass seed sits and where roots start working, and it lags air temperature by days — which is why a warm afternoon here tells you very little on its own.
Lawns in this area are typically Kentucky bluegrass with tall fescue, the usual mix for cool-season lawns at this latitude. That blend needs the soil to hold above 12.5°C before seed germinates reliably. Seeding conditions are open — soil is 20.4°C at 6cm and holding above 12.5°C.
None of the next 10 days are worth getting the mower out for. The other 10 are held back by wet grass or soft ground. As for the weekend: nothing doing. ground waterlogged. And nothing else in the next 10 days either.
Nothing in the current forecast for Kingston opens a sensible window. The ground reads as soft in places after 0mm rain over the last week, and that is usually what decides it at this time of year.
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 20.0°C cooling to 0.0°C
Tuesday 1 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Tuesday 1 SeptemberConfident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass slightly damprain earlier today
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places0mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 1.00
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature22°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light6 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Wednesday 2 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Wednesday 2 SeptemberConfident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass drydried off since a shower 1 hour ago
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places17mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.99
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature18°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light5 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Thursday 3 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Thursday 3 SeptemberConfident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places18mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.98
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature17°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light7 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Friday 4 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Friday 4 SeptemberConfident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places26mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 1.00
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature17°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light8 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Saturday 5 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Saturday 5 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Wednesday
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places26mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.85
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature14°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light16 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Sunday 6 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Sunday 6 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places26mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.88
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature13°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light10 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Monday 7 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Monday 7 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Saturday
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places26mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.93
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature16°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light5 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Tuesday 8 September: Not worth it. No — ground waterlogged.
Tuesday 8 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — ground waterlogged.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Saturday
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places26mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.75
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature15°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light17 km/h
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 Saturday
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm9mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing steadilygrowth potential 0.45
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature10°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light15 km/h
Limiting factor:temperature
Thursday 10 September: Not worth it. No — ground frozen.
Thursday 10 SeptemberLow confidence this far out
No — ground frozen.
- Poor:Grass wetness
- Grass wetraining now
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm8mm rain over the last week
- Marginal:Growth
- Growing slowlygrowth potential 0.34
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature11°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light18 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Nearby
Your own postcode
These are town-centre figures. Yours will differ a little.