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Nebraska Soil Moisture Index Map - August 24, 2010

Author: Eric Hunt - University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Published: 2010-08-25 19:55:00
Updated: 2013-06-26 15:50:27

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 24, 2010 

Rainfall and cooler weather early last week aided soil moisture conditions at sites along and near the Platte and sites in the south central and northeast sections of Nebraska generally have SMI’s above 0.0. But most of the state remains relatively dry and the median statewide SMI stands at -0.8. The driest region of the state remains along and just to the west of Highway 81 and in southeast Nebraska where rainfall totals have generally been less than 2 inches in the past month.