Weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Report - April 18, 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 18, 2011 

Most of Nebraska received 1-3 inches of rain in the past week, with some locations receiving more precipitation in 24 hours than they had previously received in all of 2011. Soil moisture improved at almost every site in the state, with many sites showing significant improvement. The big winners were Smithfield (increasing from -0.6 to 5.4), Shelton (from -3.9 to 3.7), Minden (from -2.4 to 0.1), and McCook (from -0.2 to 3.4). The only area of the state not to receive much precipitation or soil moisture improvement was the panhandle and Sidney remains the driest spot in the state with an SMI of -4.0. Most of the state should receive an additional inch or more this week, which would allow for additional improvement in areas that need it.