A wet and windy week for lawns around Worcester. The forecast shows some rain every day, with the heaviest on Friday and today, and strong gusts on Wednesday and Friday. Sunday looks like the one drier, milder day, and the soil is cooling, so the grass is slowing right down.
| Day | Sky | High / low | Rain | Soil | Mowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 20 | Rain | 12° / 9° | 18 mm | 11° | Leave it |
| Wed 21 | Rain | 12° / 6° | 8.8 mm | 9° | Leave it |
| Thu 22 | Rain | 12° / 6° | 7.6 mm | 9° | Leave it |
| Fri 23 | Rain | 11° / 8° | 24 mm | 10° | Leave it |
| Sat 24 | Rain | 12° / 8° | 6.8 mm | 9° | Leave it |
| Sun 25 | Showers | 17° / 12° | 1.5 mm | 9° | Good |
| Mon 26 | Rain | 18° / 9° | 5.4 mm | 8° | Leave it |
Forecast for Worcester from Open-Meteo, pulled 20 October. Soil temperature at 6 cm. A mowing day has under 2 mm of rain. Frost risk means a low of 3°C or below: grass can freeze even when the air does not, so wait until it has thawed. Forecasts change, so check again nearer the day.
The short version
- Sunday is the only day that looks dry enough to mow, with 1.5 mm forecast. Even then, cut only if the grass has dried off and the ground feels firm underfoot.
- Friday looks the wettest day, with 24.5 mm of rain forecast and gusts up to 44 mph. Today is not far behind, with 18.5 mm due.
- Wednesday is windy too, with gusts up to 41 mph, so expect leaves and small branches to come down midweek.
- The coldest start looks like Thursday, at around 6°C. That is cool, but no frost is forecast this week.
- September brought 52.7 mm of rain to Worcester, a little under the 30 year average of 54.9 mm. This week alone could bring more than that.
Growth: slowing down as the soil cools
For growth, the soil temperature matters more than the air. At 6 cm down the soil is 10.6°C today, and the forecast has it at 8.4°C by Monday. Grass grows while the soil is above roughly 6 to 8°C, so lawns are still growing a little, but much more slowly than a few weeks ago.
That makes this a week to leave the mower alone on most days. Cutting carries on through late autumn for as long as the grass keeps growing, but always on a higher setting, because slightly longer grass copes better with cold and wet. Never take off more than a third of the height in one cut.
Do not mow wet grass. Wet blades tear rather than cut, clippings clump, and mowers churn soft ground. If Sunday stays dry and the lawn is firm, a light, high trim is fine. If it still feels soft, it can wait.
Wet ground: keep off it
With this much rain due, low spots and heavy soils are likely to sit wet. Keep off waterlogged lawns: walking on them compacts the soil and damages the roots. That goes for mowers and barrows too. On playing fields, communal lawns and large open sites, it is worth keeping people and vehicles to paths until the ground firms up again.
Keep off any flooded ground. Floodwater can carry contamination, and once the water has gone, clear the debris and let the ground firm up before any work on it.
Leaves, wind and wet paths
The gusts on Wednesday and Friday are likely to bring a lot of leaves down. Leaves left lying on a lawn block the light and hold moisture, and after a week or two the grass underneath turns yellow and weak. Mild, damp weather is also when fusarium patch, a lawn disease, shows up as yellow or brown patches, and it is worse where leaves or long wet grass lie on the lawn.
So clear leaves when you can, even if it means raking rather than mowing this week. Piled or bagged and left to rot for a year or two, they make good leaf mould. Strong winds can also damage trees, and a tree that has been damaged in a storm should be looked at by a qualified tree surgeon.
For anyone looking after a school, care home, church or business site, wet leaves on paths, steps and car parks are slippery. Clearing them regularly is part of keeping a site safe, and this week it matters more than usual.
Two more things for the week. The clocks go back one hour on Sunday, so the afternoons get darker sooner. And hedgehogs start to hibernate from about November, often in leaf piles, log piles and under hedges, so check before clearing them.
Need a hand?
When the weather settles, we can help with lawn mowing, one-off or on a regular schedule, hedge trimming with the clippings taken away, and strimming and weed control. For commercial sites, apartment blocks, churchyards, parish councils and caravan parks, we also run grounds maintenance contracts with regular scheduled visits.
WhatsApp a photo and your postcode to 07792 110915, and Tom will come back with a price.
