Weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Report - August 22, 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 - August 22, 2011 

Not too many changes from last week’s map, except some continued improvement in east central Nebraska and slight deterioration around the Platte River in central and western Nebraska. In many cases though, the amount of rainfall received in recent weeks over eastern Nebraska has not been reflected in the SMI due to the convective nature of the events. The top 10-25 cm generally has been recharged at least once in the past few weeks but little, if any, of this water has made it down to the deeper depths. A lack of significant recharge is not unusual at this time of year, but caution should be heeded as to the overall effectiveness of convective rainfall in the summer months. The upcoming week should be relatively dry with above average temperatures across most of the state, so areas that could use some improvement are unlikely to receive them in the short-term.