Statewide soil moisture report- 28 September 2015

Major improvements for some 

For the first time in many weeks, a large portion of the state experienced significant improvements. This was particularly true over north central Nebraska and parts of central Nebraska where many locations received 2-3 inches of rain and saw the SMI go from strongly negative to solidly positive. The biggest improvements were at Sparks (-3.1 to +4.5), Ainsworth (-3.4 to 2.9), Merna (-2.2 to 4.3), and Elgin (-2.2 to 3.1). At Sparks this is the first positive SMI on a Monday map since way back on July 13th, so the precipitation there was certainly good news. 

The heaviest precipitation over the past week was centered over northeast Nebraska and parts of east central Nebraska, where 3 inches or more was the norm and some places received 6-8 inches. Soils are still very moist in these areas and both West Point and Concord have SMI values that indicate they are above field capacity. So rainfall in those areas is not particularly welcome, especially with the main harvest season approaching. 

Unfortunately the driest regions of the state (i.e., Panhandle, southwest, south central) missed out on most, if not all, of the precipitation from that upper level low last week and SMI values generally remain in the second driest or driest category. There are decent chances of rain in those regions later this week and temperatures will be seasonally cool, so prospects for improvement look better than in the past several weeks. 

Average SMI by USDA NASS Crop District (see http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/articles/index.php?id=593 for more details).

Northwest (district 10):  -2.1

North Central (district 20): 2.3

Northeast (district 30): 4.7

Central (district 50):  -1.0

East Central (district 60):  3.6

Southwest (district 70): -2.1

South Central (district 80): -1.9

Southeast (district 90):  0.7