Mowed in a thunderstorm the other day. No issues.
Mowing lawn when wet?
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^^The original "electric mower". Don't forget the golf shoes!
I would cut it the damage you are worried about won't happen you don't make a habit out of it. But if you don't cut it the grass will be high in turn hold moisture to long can lead to fungus that can do some real damage. I vote cut it
I'd rather not. I mowed the yard at our rental house July 2nd during a down pour because if I didn't do it right then it wasn't getting done for another week. It had been raining every day I tried for the previous week. Should have done it during one of the mist or light rain days, oh well.
No grass allergies so that was nice.
4WD
$50 site donor 2025
We can get some long rainy periods - so sometimes I do - then run the mower above concrete a few minutes to help dry underneath
Mow if you must but I would hose off or use compressed air to remove wet clippings from under deck to avoid corrosion. It will dry & stay there if you don’t remove it.
Also, Joe Homeowner simply slipping on wet grass (with possible injury) wasn't mentioned.
I never never mow wet grass. I have been mosing grass for almost 70 years. And I mean never.
Is there a reason germane to this thread's salient points?
Is your username Al, as in Alfred or Alfonso, or AI, as in (gasp) Artificial Intelligence?
Is your username Al, as in Alfred or Alfonso, or AI, as in (gasp) Artificial Intelligence?
Sitrep
So I was attempting to sharpen my blade with a mill file, kicking myself for not replacing it this spring like I was going to, and the sun came out for 2 minutes in what seemed like an attempt to mock me. Then the wind kicked up and I took that as my sign to mow.
It did clump a fair amount. I just shut the mower off a few times and cleaned it out completely underneath. When I was done I cleaned the mower out underneath again this time with the hose, which I do almost every time anyway but this time was a real mess.
So whats done is done. Hopefully the lawn gods don't punish me for the offense. It does look good, it didn't cut perfect but not terrible - I think raising the height helped a lot. It has rained a fair bit off and on since, so likely best I could do.
So I was attempting to sharpen my blade with a mill file, kicking myself for not replacing it this spring like I was going to, and the sun came out for 2 minutes in what seemed like an attempt to mock me. Then the wind kicked up and I took that as my sign to mow.
It did clump a fair amount. I just shut the mower off a few times and cleaned it out completely underneath. When I was done I cleaned the mower out underneath again this time with the hose, which I do almost every time anyway but this time was a real mess.
So whats done is done. Hopefully the lawn gods don't punish me for the offense. It does look good, it didn't cut perfect but not terrible - I think raising the height helped a lot. It has rained a fair bit off and on since, so likely best I could do.
I have mowed tall grass in the rain many times with a 3.5 hp Briggs
The key is that you must lift the outlet guide and bungee it up in the air and no bagging.
Blows the grass all over your face, all over the neighborhood and all over your body but then you actually can just mow without plugging, mudding the deck with a foot of cemented grass, or leaving piles of clumped grass, you don’t need to continuously clean to keep it running either.
My above comments apply to all mowers of all types, the 35hp unit had the same problems with heavy wet grass as the push mower, zero issues if you tie up the outlet.
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Right now , I'm mowing at least once a week . Temps in the 90's and fairly consistent rain is making the grass grow so fast you can almost hear it . Sometimes you just have to suck it up and go with it . One thing I will NOT do is make ruts in my yard just to get it done .
I have done it once or twice, but don't like to. I live out in the country so no HOA to worry about so I just wait another week. Had to do that a couple weeks ago and the result looked like I mowed for hay 
I mowed once when lawn was semi-wet. Never again. I use a rider with a double bagger. Most of the time the grass got stuck in the discharge chute. Took me 3X the time to get the grass cut. Then, of course, grass stuck to the tires and the deck. Done with that ! Next time around, I'll just let it grow out, then dry out, then cut it. Might take me a little longer using different height settings, but at least I won't have to fight with it. Doesn't help that my POS rider from WM only has a 15.5 hp Briggs on it. 42" deck needs a bigger engine. That little put put engine bogs down fairly easily. It's not long for this world. Don't know what " Toy Built" was thinking about when they put that underpowered engine on that rider.
First if your blade is fairly sharp it wouldn't hurt to touch it up so that you start as sharp as you can. Second, I'd side discharge the clippings and then raise the mower deck height one notch.
Sharpen your blade/s helps. I always sharpen the full length of my blades, even when they tapper up and are radiused for the strength cupping to the center mounting whole.
Bungie the discharge chute up, you can then mow full speed all day every day in the rain without plugging up.
Grass will still stick to the tires but less will cement itself to the deck.
They do, but they shouldn’t
