Nebraska Soil Moisture Index Map - August 9 and 16, 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 - August 9, 2010 

For the first time this season, a majority of stations in the state have an SMI below 0.0. Exceptions to this are stations in northeast Nebraska where it has been unusually wet in the past month (Concord is closing in on a foot of rain in the past 30 days) and in a backward L shaped area from Halsey down to Smithfield and out toward McCook. Most places in this region have been unusually wet this summer and had decent rain last week. Even though much of the southeastern third of Nebraska has also been quite wet over the past 3 months, the past 3 weeks have been relatively dry. The combination of dry weather and abnormally warm temperatures (particularly at night) has allowed for quick depletion of the soil water profile at many locations. Given the forecast for highs well over 90 all week in this region with little to any rain, any advantage of a moist June and first two thirds of July will be eradicated. The panhandle remains dry but not unusually so for this time of year.

Nebraska Weekly Soil Moisture Report - August 16, 2010 

Most of the state is relatively dry and rain is needed immediately for many producers in the non-irrigated corn producing regions. The worst area of stress currently is from Ord and Elgin down to Shelton and Clay Center. Clay Center has received only 0.60 in the past month and many sites in that region have not fared much better. The northeastern region remains moist but flash flooding does not seem as imminent of a threat as it did a week ago. The panhandle is seasonally dry and the Sand Hills region is a mix of relatively moist and relatively dry sites.