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Nebraska Soil Moisture Index Map - July 5, 2010
Author: Eric Hunt - University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Published: 2010-07-06 15:06:40
Updated: 2013-06-26 16:32:24
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 - July 5, 2010
The haves and have-nots with respect to recent effective rainfall explain most of the variability in soil moisture differences at sites across the state. Most sites across the state have received some rainfall in the past week to ten days, but at many locations, the rainfall was not enough in quantity or of the right rate to have much effect on the soil moisture profile.