The status of this year's corn and soybean crop is about to get very interesting. The featured chart contains model estimates of soil moisture within the top 1.5 meters of soil for a location near Rockwell City. The cool weather of the past few weeks and the lone rain shower earlier in August have bought some time for crops in this area, but the available soil moisture is about gone and the hottest weather of the year has arrived. Plants are not able to access all soil moisture found within their root's reach, so while the chart does not show zero for soil moisture it is practically that for the plant. The Rockwell City area has been one of the driest locations since the first of July with a total of only a half inch or so. Rainfall shows up in the chart as brief upticks in soil moisture. The wet year of 2010 is shown for comparison.

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Tags:   soilmoisture