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Nebraska Soil Moisture Index Map - May 24, 2010
Author: Eric Hunt - University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Published: 2010-05-25 16:19:49
Updated: 2013-06-26 16:32:46
The High Plains Regional Climate Center is now featuring a weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Index map. For the next month or two, the HPRCC will feature a weekly Nebraska soil moisture report and map on the front page of the website, before moving it to a permanent location on the AWDN Soil Moisture page. If you have any comments or questions about the SMI, please use the contact us page.
"The Soil Moisture Index (SMI) is an index applied to the volumetric water content at the depths of 10, 25, and 50 cm. It is averaged over those three depths and scaled such that 5.0 represents field capacity and -5.0 represents the wilting point. Measurements are made under grass covered, rain fed conditions and may not be representative of soil moisture conditions in fields with standard row crops." To learn more about the SMI, click here.
Nebraska Weekly Soil Moisture Report - May 24, 2010
Rainfall along and south of the Platte River last week has kept soils moist, with SMI values generally over 3.0 in the southern and western sections of the state. Unfortunately northeast Nebraska, the area most needing rainfall, received little to no precipitation last week and the SMI is now below 0.0 at Ord (-1.8), Elgin (-4.0), O’Neill (-0.3), Brunswick (-0.6), and Concord (-2.8). Temperatures in the 80’s this week will increase ET rates and the demand for soil moisture, thus rainfall is needed from this next storm system if soil moisture conditions are to improve or not further deteriorate in northeast Nebraska.