I have seen a number of people mowing, power raking, fertilizing, and applying pre-emergent products to home lawns. Performing any of these practices at this time is not only a waste of time and money, but could also be detrimental to your lawn.
I don't suggest inflicting any mechanical damage to the plant until it has regained some recuperative ability. Wait until you see significant green up or vertical growth. In fact, this might be the year to skip power raking and aerification altogether. The turf will need to rely more heavily on carbohydrate reserves this year to recover from the harsh winter. These mechanical/cultivation practices will only drain this energy reserve even further. The less stress you can put on your turf this spring the better it will hold up through summer.
As for fertilizer applications, WAIT! Nutrients contained in fertilizer products are not directly available to the plant and most need multiple factors to initiate the conversion of these nutrients to plant available forms. These factors are warmth, moisture, and/or microbial activity and we have none of those in our favor right now. A good rule of thumb is to let the soil temperatures to get to 55 degrees. At the course we are finding soil temperatures in the 40's.
Wait on pre-emerge product applications as well. We don't know what the health of the turf is going to be coming out of winter and you may have to over-seed some areas. A pre-emergent application could really hamper your abilities to reseed.
If you want to do something, fire up your irrigation and lightly water. This will help warm your soil and break turf dormancy. There is some rain and warmth in the forecast so be patient. Good decisions now will pay dividends in the future.
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