Weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Report - August 29, 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 29, 2011 

Dry conditions prevailed across all but the eastern corner of the state last week and a few areas are heading into soil moisture conditions that will stress vegetation. Central and western Nebraska have been the driest regions with most locations receiving under an inch of rain over the past two weeks. A few sites in the western Sandhills still have ample soil moisture from heavier rainfall earlier in August but most sites in the western 2/3 of the state are under 0.0 and many sites need an inch or more of rain to bring the profile back to 50% of available water. The area from Clay Center to Shelton has been particularly dry over the past month and this is reflected by SMI’s that are now under -3.5. Conditions are generally better in the eastern section of the state, with more rainfall likely early this week.