After a wet, windy week, the forecast for Worcester turns settled. Today brings blustery showers, then the rain looks like stopping, with dry days from Wednesday through to Monday and much lighter winds. The ground is still soft, so give it a day or two to firm up before the mower goes out.
| Day | Sky | High / low | Rain | Soil | Mowing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 27 | Showers | 16° / 8° | 1.8 mm | 13° | Good |
| Wed 28 | Cloudy | 16° / 7° | 0.2 mm | 11° | Good |
| Thu 29 | Sunny spells | 13° / 8° | 0 mm | 11° | Good |
| Fri 30 | Cloudy | 14° / 7° | 0 mm | 10° | Good |
| Sat 31 | Cloudy | 12° / 6° | 0 mm | 9° | Good |
| Sun 1 | Cloudy | 9° / 8° | 0 mm | 8° | Good |
| Mon 2 | Sunny spells | 12° / 7° | 0 mm | 10° | Good |
Forecast for Worcester from Open-Meteo, pulled 27 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
- Every day this week looks dry enough to mow, with under 2 mm of rain forecast each day. Thursday to Saturday look the best of it, once the ground has had time to dry out.
- Today is the windiest day, with gusts up to 40 mph and a few showers bringing 1.8 mm.
- From Wednesday the wind drops right away, with gusts of 20 mph or less for the rest of the week.
- The coldest start looks like Saturday, at around 6°C. That is chilly, but no frost is forecast this week.
- The last seven days brought 49.8 mm of rain to Worcester, with rain on six of them, so low spots and heavy soils are still wet.
- September brought 52.7 mm of rain, a little under the 30 year average of 54.9 mm.
Growth: still going, but slowing by the weekend
For growth, the soil temperature matters more than the air. At 6 cm down the soil is 12.7°C today, and the forecast has it falling to 7.6°C by Sunday. Grass grows while the soil is above roughly 6 to 8°C, so lawns are still growing this week, but more slowly as the weekend comes.
That makes this a good week for a cut, and for many lawns it could be one of the better chances before growth slows for the winter. Keep the mower 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. If the grass got long during the wet spell, bring it down over two or three cuts a few days apart.
Do not mow wet grass. Wet blades tear rather than cut, clippings clump, and mowers churn soft ground. After this much rain, if your feet sink in or the lawn squelches, wait another day. Keep off waterlogged lawns: walking on them compacts the soil and damages the roots.
Leaves and wet paths
Strong winds bring leaves and branches down, and after last week's gusts many lawns are likely to have a covering. Leaves left lying on a lawn block the light and hold moisture. After a week or two the grass underneath turns yellow and weak, and moss and disease move in.
A dry, calm spell is the time to deal with them. A mower with the collector on picks up light leaf fall and chops it in one go, while heavier fall needs raking or blowing first. Piled or bagged and left to rot for a year or two, leaves make good leaf mould.
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 a settled week is a good time to catch up.
Hedges, hedgehogs and the river
The calmer days suit hedge cutting too. Pick a calm, dry day: the finish is cleaner and the clippings are easier to clear. Formal hedges such as privet, beech and laurel can have a tidy trim now that nesting is over, while native and wildlife hedges are often left until late winter so their berries feed the birds. Whatever the hedge, check it for active nests first, because the law protects a nest in use at any time of year.
Sunday is 1 November, and hedgehogs hibernate from about November to March, often in leaf piles, log piles, compost heaps and under hedges. Check long grass, piles and hedge bottoms before strimming or clearing, and check any bonfire pile before lighting it.
The Environment Agency's latest flood message for the area is for the River Severn upstream in Shropshire, and it is now marked as no longer in force. After a wet week it is still worth checking the Environment Agency's flood service before working near the river. Keep off any ground that has flooded: floodwater can carry contamination, so let it drain, clear the debris and let the ground firm up first.
Need a hand?
If the lawns or hedges need sorting before winter, 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.
