The shift is the loss of sea ice due to warming ocean temps. “It” refers to the sea ice.

5a. Grass grows like crazy from May into July. August it usually goes dormant because I don’t have irrigation and then I don’t have to mow until it cools down again.

Too high for me is when even at the tallest setting my lawn mower struggles to cut which is probably like 6+ inches as a guess. Usually the first mow in the spring is difficult if I attempt “no mow may”.

I don’t understand how you’d ever be ‘tilling the soil’ unless you don’t know how to adjust your mower height, maybe you could elaborate?

I usually have to mow once a week when we’re not in drought, otherwise the lawn gets too high, but during the heat of summer I don’t have to mow at all because the grass goes dormant.