Wetter Soils For Southern Illinois

A wet May has caused higher than normal soil moisture especially for southern Illinois, according to Jennie Atkins, Water and Atmospheric Resources Monitoring (WARM) program manager at the Illinois State Water Survey.

May has been wet so far for southern Illinois. Carbondale has received more than 5 inches in the first half of the month, while Dixon Springs Agricultural Center in Pope County has recorded 7.7 inches.

All this rain has led to high soil moisture levels across the region. Soil moisture at 4 inches averaged 0.40 water fraction by volume (wfv) on May 14, above the field capacity for most of the monitored soils. This is down 9% from the previous week, but with more rain in the forecast, levels are expected to remain high.

Soil moisture across Illinois was 9% higher than the long-term historical average in mid-May with a statewide average of 0.36 wfv on May 14. Northern Illinois had the driest soils, but even in that region, levels were significantly above the wilting point.

Soil temperatures at 4 inches under bare soil have remained steady in May with daily averages between 65 and 68° statewide. On May 14, temperatures averaged 67°, 2° lower than last year but 5° warmer than the long-term average.

The Illinois State Water Survey’s WARM program collects hourly and daily weather and soil information at 19 stations across the state. Daily and monthly summaries can be found on the WARM website (https://warm.isws.illinois.edu/warm/).

The Illinois State Water Survey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a division of the Prairie Research Institute, is the primary agency in Illinois concerned with water and atmospheric resources.