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...