Statewide Soil Moisture Report- 7 September 2015

The Magnificent Seven 

There was a time not so long ago when every single station in Nebraska had a soil moisture index (SMI) above 0.0. Even with the recent dryness across much of the state, last Monday's report showed that there were still 13 "lucky" sites (mostly in the east) with an SMI above 0.0. Then last week brought a combination of little to no rain for most areas (which in parts of central and western Nebraska has been the case for a while) and significantly above average temperatures statewide. So now we are left with "The Magnificent Seven" (i.e., sites with an SMI > 0.0): Concord, Firth, Holdrege, Indian Cave State Park, Mead, Monroe, and West Point. Of those seven, Holdrege is the only site west of Highway 81 with a positive SMI and its days above 0.0 are numbered if rainfall doesn't materialize from this current system. 

Before worries set in that the title of a future soil moisture report will be that of an old Agatha Christie book, consider that much of south central and eastern Nebraska should receive decent amounts of precipitation over the next few days. Some areas around Lincoln had 3-5 inches of rain last night and therefore we are more concerned locally with flash flooding than with the possibility of a flash drought setting in. But I digress. Anyway, it is likely that some areas in south central and southeastern Nebraska (e.g., Beatrice) will see some improvement with the rains and seasonally cooler temperatures that are forecast for the next week. Rains and cooler weather also will help maintain the moist conditions over the sites in east central and northeast Nebraska that currently have an SMI well above 0.0. Further west where conditions are drier, rainfall is not expected to be as significant, but the cooler temperatures will help limit additional losses to the soil profile.

Average SMI by USDA NASS Crop District (see http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/articles/index.php?id=593 for more details).

Northwest (district 10):  -2.4

North Central (district 20): -2.1

Northeast (district 30): 2.0

Central (district 50):  -2.2 

East Central (district 60):  1.5 

Southwest (district 70): -1.7

South Central (district 80): -1.6

Southeast (district 90):  -1.5