weather · the model over the view
Soil moisture
Water in the ground as a field: the top 10 cm drawn on the map, the 10-40 cm root layer and the 40-100 cm reserve beside it at the cursor.
Soil moisture is a Pro layer. Open it in the app to see what is behind it.
Open in the app Pro · 9 USDWhat it shows
Water in the ground as a field: the top 10 cm drawn on the map, the 10-40 cm root layer and the 40-100 cm reserve beside it at the cursor. The topsoil dries in a week of sun and wind and is what seeds and lawns live on; the deeper layer answers to the whole season, and together they show a drought before the rivers do.
Where the data comes from
NOAA GFS 0.25° analysis from the Noah land model (public domain), refreshed on our server every 6 hours with each model run; one frame, the latest analysis.
Reading the map
Brown under 8% (dry), sand at 16%, green at 24%, teal at 32%, blue from 40% (wet to saturated). Seas, lakes and land ice stay clear.
Units Volumetric water content in percent: the share of a volume of ground that is water. Sand feels wet at ~10%, clay holds up to ~45%, so the same number is drier on clay than on sand.
Put this map on your site
Writing about it? Embed this live map: one iframe, free, no tracking, it stays up to date on its own.