Weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Report - April 11, 2011

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 - April 11, 2011 

Most places in the state received some precipitation over the past week, but most areas did not see much improvement.  For south central and western Nebraska, this is not good news, as winter recharge in those areas was generally confined to only the top few inches of soil.  A week of cooler temperatures and chances for rain should, at the very least, not allow for much deterioration in soil moisture across the state. However, several sites in the state will need over an inch of rain just to bring the soil profile to 50% capacity and many sites will need decent rainfall to keep the soil profile at or above 50% capacity. Many producers, particularly over the south central portion of the state, may be forced to irrigate before or shortly following planting if sufficient rainfall does not materialize soon.