Rapidly Changing Weather

The rapidly changing weather patterns this week could be some cause for concern, but we will have to wait and see.  We have received 0.80 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and currently it is over 50 degrees.  All of the great snow I posted about earlier has melted away and only the large piles of snow remain.  0.80 inches of rain is not a lot, but combine that with the snow that was on the ground and consider that the ground is still frozen and you are left with a lot of water on the surface.  I was out walking around today and there is a significant amount of water on the surface.  The pond on 17 has overflowed its banks and is running onto the 16th fairway.  With the temperatures that are predicted from tonight through Sunday, all the water that is on the surface will freeze.  There are some situations where this could cause problems.  If some of the water that is available now is taken up by the plant, then freezes as a result of the temperatures tonight, this could cause the cells in the plant to burst and kill the plant.  Right now the turf is hardened off well and we did not have warm enough temperatures (for long enough) to cause the plant to take up moisture.  Also, when this extra water on the surface freezes it will cause a layer of ice to form.  Turfgrass can survive for a period of time under ice.  Last winter we had an extended period of ice cover in many areas (Winter on the Course-Ice Cover) and only one area resulted in the death of grass (Seen Around the Course - this link also shows how much more susceptible annual bluegrass is ice cover).  We don't expect any damage from this, but we will not know until after the weather moves through.