Nebraska Soil Moisture Index Map - July 12 and 19, 2010

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 12, 2010 

Most of Nebraska remains moist, unseasonably so in many cases. The only part of the state that is a bit on the dry side is the panhandle, but in the middle of July, that is to be expected. The moist soils in the southern and eastern portions of the state will help make mid-week heat especially miserable.

Nebraska Weekly Soil Moisture Report - July 19, 2010 

Moist soils continue to prevail across most of Nebraska, with exceptions being the panhandle and some sites in the north central region of the state. However, the dryness is to be expected in those regions and the lowest SMI in the entire state is -2.3 (at Sparks), which for late July is a major reversal from most of the last decade when an SMI of -2.3 would have been one of the wetter locations in the state. East central Nebraska remains the wettest (and most humid) region of the state and chances for rain exist in this region all week.