Soilclock

Soil temp by ZIP

269 cities · updated Nov 4, 2026, 7:16 AM EST · NOAA and NWS data

Today's soil temperature, and the right week for pre-emergent, seed and fertilizer where you live.

Coldest and warmest soil today

Two inches down, the spread across the country on Nov 2 was 48°F. Below about 50°F almost nothing sprouts; above 65°F warm-season grass grows fast.

36°Coldest: Anchorage, AK 84°Warmest: Harlingen, TX

Lawn timing across the country today

Today 30 of 269 cities have 2-inch soil under 50°F, 214 are warmer than normal, and in 66 of 172 cool-season cities fall seeding has closed.

Every state, at a glance

The middle soil reading of each state's cities today, and the span of dates when the spring crabgrass pre-emergent window typically opens across them, from the earliest city to the latest.

A dug soil profile showing layers of silt, loam and clay
A soil profile. The top few inches warm and cool fastest; that is where seeds sprout.

Guides

Close view of a Kentucky bluegrass lawn
Kentucky bluegrass, the most common cool-season lawn grass in the northern US.
A low mat of bermudagrass with fine blades and seed heads
Bermudagrass, the warm-season grass behind most lawns from the Carolinas to Texas.

Two kinds of lawn, two calendars

Cool-season grasses grow in spring and fall and are seeded in late summer. Warm-season grasses grow through the heat and are seeded in late spring. Every city page shows both calendars and starts with the one most lawns there use.

Which one do you have?

Questions

Large crabgrass with its spreading finger-like seed heads
Crabgrass, the weed most spring pre-emergents are timed for.

What is soil temperature by ZIP code? Enter a ZIP and we send you to the nearest of our 272 city pages. Each one estimates the daily average soil temperature 2 and 4 inches down from that city's airport weather station, plus the 7-day National Weather Service forecast.

Is this measured or estimated? Estimated. Real soil sensors are rare, so we model soil from air temperature. Tested against 190 USDA sensor sites on years the model never saw, it was off by 3.3°F on an average day.

When should I apply crabgrass pre-emergent? When 2-inch soil holds about 50°F and before it holds 55°F, which is when crabgrass starts to sprout. Each city page shows the typical dates and this year's status.

When is it too late to overseed? For tall fescue and bluegrass, once 4-inch soil stays under about 55°F seedlings struggle, and under 50°F they rarely establish before winter.

Is it too late to fertilize? For cool-season lawns, the last feeding of the year works while 4-inch soil is between about 50°F and 40°F. Warm-season lawns should not be fed once they start going dormant.

How often is it updated? Every morning. Each page shows when it was last updated and the last day of observed weather.

Why is my city missing? We only publish a city where a long-record weather station is close by, so nearby towns share a page rather than repeat the same numbers. The ZIP lookup sends you to the closest one.