Re-Post from last year---Very High Lows

The following post was made a year ago, but much of it applies today....

Weather forecasts are warning people to stay inside over the next few days.  Extremely high temperatures are coming.  We'll be out in the middle of it trying to keep bentgrass alive.  The biggest challenge is not so much the high temperatures, but the low temperatures.  We'd love to see something in the 60s at sunrise, but it looks like we'll be in the mid to high 70s instead.  The soil temperatures will remain well above optimum bentgrass growing numbers.  Roots won't be functioning well, if at all, and the symptoms will likely appear on the surface soon.  Afternoon thunderstorms like the one we had yesterday around 4:30 do not help us believe it or not.  Wet soil holds the heat and keeps the soil from cooling back down to a reasonable level.  We can't dry the soil out or change the temperatures, but we can add water with hoses when things are dry.  When soil is wet, highs are pushing 100, and lows are barely below 80 it's a helpless feeling.  It's tough to watch and we will likely come out of this stretch with some visible damage.  Relief is not that far away as next week's forecast calls for mid 60s overnight and more reasonable highs in the 80s.  Additionally,
major relief is coming on August 19th when we aerate.  This is about a month earlier than the past 10 years and will hopefully result in much better fall conditions.  It's hard to hang on to struggling bentgrass for an entire month at the end of summer.