Soil Moisture Recharge Needed

Despite all the rain that fell on the Northern Plains earlier this year, it was a very dry harvest season. As a result, the soil moisture profile is fairly parched. “It will surprise nobody that really the top say six-to-ten inches is pretty dry,” said NDAWN Director Daryl Ritchison. “If you go deeper than that, most areas are still very moist down there from the rains we had earlier in the year.” It will likely take more than the small rains forecast over the next few weeks, to help restore topsoil moisture. “If you want to get that top, foot of soil with more moisture in it, you will probably need an inch to inch and a half of rain, which is very rare this time of year. Not impossible, but it’s pretty rare.”