Home ▸ Lawn Care Guide ▸ Frost, Snow & Waterlogging ▸ Will snow damage my lawn?
Will snow damage my lawn?
“Oh the weather outside is frightful, but my lawn looks so delightful, so as there’s no grass to mow, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…”
Waking up to find your garden in a ‘white out’ can be fun – thoughts turn to building snowmen, making snow angels, pelting loved ones (and maybe not so loved) with snowballs while watching little tykes systematically mess up every single patch of untouched snow.
As far as your lawn is concerned, snow generally causes little in the way of problems so there is no reason to worry when you wake to find it covered by a white blanket. Snow isn’t as regular an occurrence as it was in the past few decades – southern parts of the UK have not received particularly long sustained periods of snow cover for a fair time. It generally doesn’t cause any long-term issues as the snow provides a degree of insulation, so the lawn is not subjected to such low temperatures. One downside to this is that the warmer, moist conditions formed by this air gap can encourage the development of a fungal disease called snow mould. This can appear as small patches of yellowing, dying grass once the snow has melted but can also have a whitish, matted appearance.
Snow Mould is very similar to another fungus called Fusarium Patch, a mycelium fungus that attacks the leaf and crown of lawn turf whilst the snow is melting. Some grass types are more susceptible to fungal diseases, including fescues and perennial ryegrass, and soil type can also contribute a factor, with alkaline soil being more susceptible
Often lawns will recover during the spring as temperatures rise, but in more severe cases it can cause long term damage to the roots of the grass. You may be able to repair smaller patches in the Spring by raking out the dead patches, forming a tilth and putting down some grass seed. However, for worst affected lawns, it may be that more extreme measures like returfing are considered.
