Soil temperature in New Bedford, Massachusetts
Soil temperature
64°F17.9°C
at 6cm — germination depth
Cooling over the next 11 days.
Seeding conditions are open — soil is 17.9°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 New Bedford, Massachusetts is currently 17.9°C, and falling about 19.3°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 17.9°C at 6cm and holding above 12.5°C.
7 of the next 10 days are good mowing days. The other 3 are held back by wet grass or soft ground. The best weekend slot right now is Monday 10am–8pm, on the basis that ground soft in places — 107mm rain over the last week.
The next recommended window in New Bedford opens at 10am on Sunday 6 September, because anything earlier is the hour your neighbours will remember. Underfoot, the ground reads as soft after 99mm 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 17.9°C cooling to 0.0°C
Tuesday 1 September: Not worth it. No — grass wet, rain 2 hours ago.
Tuesday 1 SeptemberConfident
No — grass wet, rain 2 hours ago.
- Poor:Grass wetness
- Grass wetrain 2 hours ago
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft99mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.95
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature17°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light7 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Wednesday 2 September: Good. No — ground soft, 106mm rain over the last week.
Wednesday 2 SeptemberConfident
No — ground soft, 106mm rain over the last week.
- Marginal:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft106mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.96
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature16°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light7 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Thursday 3 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
Thursday 3 SeptemberConfident
No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass drydried off since a shower 5 hours ago
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft106mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.98
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature20°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light13 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Friday 4 September: Good. No — ground soft, 106mm rain over the last week.
Friday 4 SeptemberConfident
No — ground soft, 106mm rain over the last week.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft106mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.89
- Marginal:Temperature
- Temperature17°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light8 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Saturday 5 September: Good. No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
Saturday 5 SeptemberReasonably confident
No — 0.1mm of rain falling.
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Thursday
- Poor:Ground firmness
- Ground soft107mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.99
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature16°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light15 km/h
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Sunday 6 September: Good. 10am–8pm — ground soft — 107mm rain over the last week
Sunday 6 September · 10am–8pmReasonably confident
10am–8pm — ground soft — 107mm rain over the last week
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryrain earlier today
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft107mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.82
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature13°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light13 km/h
- Sociable hours
- Fine by the neighboursstarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Monday 7 September: Good. 10am–8pm — ground soft in places — 107mm rain over the last week
Monday 7 September · 10am–8pmReasonably confident
10am–8pm — ground soft in places — 107mm rain over the last week
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Saturday
- Marginal:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places107mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.87
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature14°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light9 km/h
- Sociable hours
- Fine by the neighboursstarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:ground firmness
Tuesday 8 September: Good. 8am–8pm — no rain since Saturday, ground soft in places
Tuesday 8 September · 8am–8pmReasonably confident
8am–8pm — no rain since Saturday, ground soft in places
- Good:Grass wetness
- Grass dryno rain since Saturday
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground soft in places8mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.97
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature19°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light12 km/h
- Sociable hours
- A bit early or late, but finestarts when it stops being antisocial
Limiting factor:none
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 firm1mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.95
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature17°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light13 km/h
Limiting factor:none
Thursday 10 September: Not worth it. No — ground frozen.
Thursday 10 SeptemberLow confidence this far out
No — ground frozen.
- Poor:Grass wetness
- Grass slightly damprain 3 hours ago
- Good:Ground firmness
- Ground firm1mm rain over the last week
- Good:Growth
- Growing wellgrowth potential 0.96
- Good:Temperature
- Temperature21°C
- Good:Wind
- Wind light17 km/h
Limiting factor:grass wetness
Nearby
Your own postcode
These are town-centre figures. Yours will differ a little.