Weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Report - June 13 and 20, 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 - June 13, 2011 

It’s not time to hit the drought panic button but most of Nebraska is drying out. Most of the state did not receive much precipitation last week and the hot, windy weather early in the period hastened the soil drying process. As of now, fourteen AWDN stations are below 0.0 and up to ten more stations are likely to fall below 0.0 by the end of the week if significant rainfall does not materialize. The driest region of the state is the north central/Sand Hills region, with a secondary area of drier soils around Lincoln and Nebraska City. The HPC projects some precipitation this week in the eastern corner of Nebraska but most of the state will likely not see much improvement.

Nebraska Weekly Soil Moisture Report - June 20, 2011  

This week’s SMI map is another example of how odd this year has been thus far. Consider that Scottsbluff has the highest SMI in the state and in a perfect example of irony, Nebraska City (which is near a river that is above flood stage) has an SMI of -1.8. It is hard to wish for rain at a time when the Missouri River is so high and likely to remain so for most of the summer, but that is the unfortunate aspect for dryland producers in parts of southeast Nebraska. The north central region is also on the dry side but only Ord and Elgin have soils dry enough to cause problems for crops and rangeland.

Most sites in the state changed very little over the past week as temperatures were moderate and rainfall was enough to maintain the status quo. Significant precipitation is expected over most of the northern and western region of Nebraska, so improvement is likely at many of those sites in the Sand Hills. Seasonally cool temperatures and moderate amounts of rain elsewhere in the state should, at the very least, prevent significant depletion of soil moisture.