March 22,
2018
  With the Maryland SoccerPlex 
A weekly newsletter to keep you informed about EVERYTHING Turf at the Maryland SoccerPlex.
For the 7th year, the SoccerPlex has partnered with WeatherBug of Earth Networks. (By the way did you know their world headquarters are in Germantown)?
Safety First
When you think of WeatherBug, you probably think of our state of the art lightning alert system and weather station. We installed the system to make sure our players, coaches and visitors would be safe in the event of stormy weather. As a refresher, the system sounds a horn for 15 seconds if there has been a lightning strike within 10 miles of the SoccerPlex. When you hear the horn everyone must head to their cars for shelter. Usually this results in a short delay in your game. When there has been no lightning strikes for a continuous 15 minutes, the horn will sound three short burst that indicates it's all clear and safe to go back and resume your game or practice.
There's More To It
What you may not know is that our weather station, located on top of the Discovery Sports Center, provides vital information to our grounds crew to help them plan the maintenance of the fields. Precipitation, wind speed, and current weather forecasts all contribute to more precise maintenance practices. 

And on top of that we have a camera at the weather station that shows us the conditions at the SoccerPlex 24/7.
And WeatherBug also provides historical data that show weather patterns, for example the average rainfall for a particular month. Knowing this can help determine the best week or day to seed, overseed, aearate and event when to mow.
Download the app
WeatherBug has an app. Download it and pick the Maryland SoccerPlex weather station for your location. You'll be able to check the weather on site. For instance sometimes there's a thunderstorm in Silver Spring but clear at the SoccerPlex. You'll be able to track how much precipitation we've gotten, the ten day forecast and how windy it is. And you can look at the weather station camera that shows the stadium field. You can even see a Washington Spirit game via the weather camera!

We always say that weather is the one factor that we can't control but it somehow controls us!

Have a great spring soccer season.
Next Week
Next week we will take at our completed synthetic turf fields and breakdown each layer!
Ask Us Your Questions
Do you have a burning turfgrass related question? Ask us! We will be happy to answer it in future iterations of Turf Talk - just email us at [email protected], subject line Turf Talk Question.
 
Many Thanks to Fine Earth Landscape, Inc. for 
Their Continued Support of the Maryland SoccerPlex.

Learn more about Fine Earth here.
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18031 Central Park Circle Boyds, MD 20841