The sun is becoming more effective each day at warming the ground from the increasing solar incident angle and the lengthening day. The plot shows solar radiation and soil temperatures from the Shagbark Hills SCAN site. You can see the recent uptick in temperature at shallow layers. If you compare this with the Ames site, you can see the effects of the lingering snow cover at the Ames site. These plots will get even more interesting this weekend with warmer temperatures and rainfall in the forecast.

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