Turf Temperatures

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) - Preseason football practice is about to officially begin in Indiana. The type of surface a football team practices on can crank up the heat. More than 30 Indiana schools have artificial turf football fields.

Research done across the country has shown artificial grass is much hotter than natural grass. So, I-Team 8 teamed up with Forecast 8 to do our own tests.

One school football field with artificial turf is Center Grove High School.

Football Coach Eric Moore says he knows artificial turf can be hotter than grass.

We wanted to find out how much hotter.

Forecast 8 Chief Meteorologist Steve Bray started our tests by measuring the air temperature on the July day we took our cameras to Center Grove.

“Typically when you measure air temperature, you measure it in the shade out of direct sunlight,” Steve said.

It was a partly cloudy afternoon at Center Grove High School. Our temperature gauges measured the air temperature around 80 degrees, a cooler than average summer day. Then, Bray used a mini infrared thermometer to get the temperature of the surface. The thermometer measured the surface temperature in the shade at about 75 degrees.

Next, we went into the sun, but still on a natural grass surface. The air temperature went up to about 83-84 degrees. The surface temperature also went up.

“Most of the areas I'm seeing are between 90 and 95,” Steve said.

Then, Steve took the thermometers to concrete walkways. Again both temperatures climbed. The temperature of the concrete was 105 degrees.

Now that we tested those surfaces, we took the thermometers to the artificial turf that covers the high school's football field.

When clouds moved in and covered the sun, the temperature read 105-106 degrees. But when the sun came back out, it heated the field quickly.

Minutes later, the temperature climbed to a high of 142 degrees with an air temperature of almost 90 degrees.

The surface temperature on the artificial turf is almost twice the temperature of the natural grass. It was a full 65 degrees hotter than in the shade and nearly 55 degrees hotter than in the sun.

If you think the black asphalt where the band practices must be even hotter, think again. Asphalt is actually a cooler surface.

It's “bouncing around 81-85 (degrees) basically but the surface temperature up to 126 and that's actually less than the football field,” Steve said.

Coach Eric Moore doesn't think the extra heat from the artificial turf puts his team more at risk.

“It's all about how we get our guys ready, according to Coach Moore. “It's all about them conditioning and hydrating on a regular basis.”

Again, we picked a cooler than average summer day to do our tests at just 80 degrees. When the temperature spikes over 90, some research found surface temperatures on artificial turf topping 160 degrees.

We talked to one another area coach who usually plays on natural grass. He told I-Team 8 he did a three day camp on artificial turf and had blisters on his feet because of the heat.