This is Archived Content. It may not meet current accessibility standards or contain working links. It is being provided for historical, research, or recordkeeping purposes. Please Contact Us if you have any questions regarding this content or its limitations.
Weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Report - May 30, 2011
Author: Eric Hunt - University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Published: 2011-06-02 13:49:07
Updated: 2013-06-26 15:48:35
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 - May30, 2011
Most places in the state received at least another inch of rain and every site in the state has an SMI above 0.0. The biggest improvements in the past week were at Minden, Cozad, Ord, and Sidney. The statewide median SMI is 3.7 and many sites have an inch or more to spare in the top 50 cm before falling below 50% of available soil water. The forecast does not call for much precipitation across most of the state this week, so areas that need to dry out should get a chance to do so.