It was a wet and warm Christmas 2023. An inch or more of rain fell over much of the state and an immediate wonder is how much of it infiltrated the ground. The featured chart displays soil moisture readings from the ISU Soil Moisture Network for a site near Ames. You can see the delayed response of soil moisture with increasing depth as the rain water works downward through the soil profile. It is interesting that there is no response yet at the 30 inch depth. Soils were clearly dry before this rain event, so the 1.4 inches of precipitation reported at the site may not been enough to immediately get to lower depths. Checking back on this plot later today or Wednesday may show the wetting front having made it to the deeper depths.

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