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Weekly Nebraska Soil Moisture Report - September 12, 2011
Author: Eric Hunt - University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Published: 2011-09-12 15:41:22
Updated: 2013-06-26 15:43:18
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 - September 12, 2011
Dry conditions prevailed across the state last week and many sites in central and western Nebraska are below -2.0 and five sites (Clay Center, Shelton, Ord, Gordon, and Sparks) have SMI’s below -3.5. The eastern section of the state is still generally on the moist side, particularly in the top half foot of the soil profile. Rainfall chances are better this week, particularly in the west, but the rainfall is not likely going to be enough to bring significant help to dry soil profiles.