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OK, doesn this mean that places with Oceanic climates are good for year round green grass. Europe seems to be the same with year round green grass.
Or maybe America has grasses from places that aren't suited to cold. Because remember they are at 40n and those places don't really get as cold as our latitude.
Owen, our grass is probably the same type as there, but the snowpack takes its toll. In Saskatchewan there must be a different type.
The winter of 2007-2008 was very mild here, with monthly means above or at freezing. That year the grass didn't turn brown, but was similar to the UK. It even started to grow in January, as it 'thought' it was already spring. I think the snowpack is the only reason why it turns brown in the first place. This winter was very snowy in December, but after 1.5 cold months, the grass was still completely green, when some of the snow melted, so even prolonged periods of snow doesn't turn the grass immediately brown.
The grass is always always green here even if it gets to -18c and stays snowy for 6 weeks like in 2010.
I think maybe the grass that we have is a northern grass and so maybe it is used to the cold.
The grass in far northern locations in North America turns brown after a few hard freezes, i.e. in autumn. In a colder season such as 2009-10 the grass will be brown from the Yukon to northern Florida. Also, the grass turns brown in Finland (a colder place than Ireland) while under a snowpack, so it's not just a matter of acclimatization to cold.
My guess is that different species of grass have differing pigmentation when they go dormant. Surely even in northern Ireland the grass isn't growing when it's -18C, so it appears that North American grass turns brown as soon as it goes dormant, whereas European grass either remains green year-round or turns brown well after dormancy sets in.
The grass in far northern locations in North America turns brown after a few hard freezes, i.e. in autumn. In a colder season such as 2009-10 the grass will be brown from the Yukon to northern Florida. Also, the grass turns brown in Finland (a colder place than Ireland) while under a snowpack, so it's not just a matter of acclimatization to cold.
My guess is that different species of grass have differing pigmentation when they go dormant. Surely even in northern Ireland the grass isn't growing when it's -18C, so it appears that North American grass turns brown as soon as it goes dormant, whereas European grass either remains green year-round or turns brown well after dormancy sets in.
Well that must be it. The grass stops growing here in the winter as the temps go below freezing quite often.
The grass in far northern locations in North America turns brown after a few hard freezes, i.e. in autumn. In a colder season such as 2009-10 the grass will be brown from the Yukon to northern Florida. Also, the grass turns brown in Finland (a colder place than Ireland) while under a snowpack, so it's not just a matter of acclimatization to cold.
I think also the snowpack plays a big part. From what I know, hard freezes in the Candadian and US plains can occur much before snow. Here, hard freezes most usually come after the snowpack has formed, protecting the grass from the extreme temperatures.
On the drought side, when do you start to see the changes?
During the summer drought in 2006 the grass turned completely brown, as the conditions were so different from normal. From June 28 to August 14 we (Helsinki) collected 5.0mm of rain, and the grass had big difficulties to recover even if irrigated. Also July had 400 sunshine hours, enhancing the effect.
Otherwise, it's really rare to see the grass turn brown during the summer, as it usually rains a sufficient amount to keep it green. Whatever that amount is.
This was the grass in Leeds in July 2006, but this is before the hottest weather arrived later in the month and temperatures exceeded 32C. Needless to say, I have never seen grass like this in winter. I'll continue looking for more images, as this is the only one I have found so far of that hot, hot month (by our standards)..
Grass always turn brown here every summer around August typically. However last year I don't think it did.
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