Grass is still Green?

Despite the fact that the nights have been chilly lately, its been a very warm November so far. You can tell that it has been an extremely warm last couple of weeks because there are still scattered and even numerous areas where plants as well as the grass is still green. There are many plants and grasses that are very strong and can handle quite a bit of cold weather. Case and point, we have had a dozen or so hard freezes and things are still green. Well this is because the ground is not yet frozen. Many of the plants that are still green don't go into a hibernation stage until their roots are cold enough to freeze and the ground just isn't that cold yet. Take a look at today's soil temperatures.

Soil Temperatures at 2" deep:

Soil Temperatures at 4" deep:Now keep in mind that this time of the year, the lower you go in the soil (to a certain point), the warmer it will get. Often times in the middle of January when air temperatures at the surface are 10 or 20 degrees below zero, you can dig 4 or 5 feet into the ground and the soil will be close to 50 degrees.

~KDLT Meteorologist Cody Matz