Category: Weather

Did it rain in July?

Summer

Did it rain in July?

Summer

Hottest June on Record – 2023

Growing Degree Days

Primo Maxx II – Can I trust the model when its this hot?!

If you are in the UK you will know its been very hot recently, and Ireland has seen its share of the heat wave also; Dublin’s Phoenix Park recorded 33.1C (91.4F). The hottest day in 135 years across the island of Ireland. I saw on the news that the UK had its hottest night on…

Weather

Grass needs light, but how much is too much?

Like the other plant health inputs, water, nutrition and air, grass needs light. And like all things in life its not that simple. Each of these inputs has an optimum or ‘Goldie Locks’ zone. For water; too little and the plant withers and dies, too much and it becomes waterlogged and dies. The same is…

Weather

Santa brings high disease pressure again!

Once again the Christmas period proved to be a tricky time time manage Microdochium patch in the UK. For a lot of turf managers the high temperatures and long periods of leaf moisture can add up and cause some real challenges. This is nothing new (see below links to past Christmas blogs). Whilst the Christmas…

Weather

Early Snowfall

In this month’s “On the horizon” Henry and I speak at some length about how the climate is warming and how Christmas is unlikely to be snowy! Well, as soon as we put the Podcast out, it goes super cold and starts to snow. The timing couldn’t be any better! Speaking of timing, I’ve recently…

Weather

How cold has November 2021 been?

After telling everyone on the Podcast that these Autumn / Winter months are getting warmer, I was beginning to feel pretty nervous as the last month has felt pretty chilly to me! I’ve had a look back at the data to see how we’ve compared back to 2008 – 2011 period just to see how…

Weather

Has October 2021 been a cold one?

One of the things Henry and myself have been chatting about “On the Horizon” is the concept of sub 2c stopping hours. It’s a concept we’ve developed to help us understand when we start to see weather that is cold enough to slow down the development of Microdochium patch and how variable it is across…

Weather

Festival of turf heat – how unusual is it?

Just finished setting up the ICL / Syngenta at the 2021 Festival of Turf event and it was hot one. What I couldn’t work out though was – have I gone soft because I don’t work outside any more (no need to answer that) or is this level of heat normal?? This kind of thing…

Weather

The Open and the temperature is picking up

It’s here at last – the highlight of the years golfing calendar – The Open and looking at the weather headlines it’s set to be a scorcher. I love The Open because we get to see golf played on some great natural sites and the weather plays a big role in how the event pans…