The FoxMill Weather Station temperature-compensated soil moisture readings at the 3 and 5 inch levels are 24 and 21 centibars respectively in Buckhall silty clay loam with 3.7% fine gravel/particulates and 3¾ inch mowed dense fescue overcover where the ground sensors are located. Ground temps at the same depths are 33°F and 34°F. Soil moisture education note: Barring a torrential downpour resulting in standing water, the soil moisture levels at 3 & 5 inches in the station’s Buckhall clay will lag rainfall by 12 - 24 hours due to the fescue moisture uptake and slow percolation in the clay soil. Levels at 8 & 16 inches are relatively stable.

A total of 0.04 inch of melted snow recorded in the past seven days since the last Condition Monitoring Report was submitted. Weekly evapotranspiration (ETo) total was 0.19 inch resulting in a 0.15 inch ground moisture deficit.

FoxMill recorded 0.4 inch of snow this week with a measured SWE (Snow Water Equivalent) of 0.04 inch. As can be readily seen, the snow density was 10%. For the intellectually curious, the density of new snow ranges from about 5% when the air temperature is 14° F, to about 20% when the temperature is 32° F. Right in line with what would be expected, the outside air temperature during the hours of this small snowfall ranged between 22 - 25°F. 

Ground temps were above freezing at all depths during this snowfall so there was no discernible runoff as the small amount of snow melted on Thursday and immediately soaked in.

Seasonal snowfall thus far amounts to 3.7 inches. 

This morning’s weighted soil-moisture reading puts us right in the middle of the “Near Normal” range as defined by CoCoRaHS.

January cumulative totals: precip 0.84 inch; ETo 0.46 inch resulting in a monthly ground moisture surfeit of 0.38 inch at FoxMill which correlates nicely (high R^2) with the observed soil moisture readings after accounting for the last precipitation type, weighted rate of fall, amount, duration, surface water runoff, ground temperatures, ETo and the previous 30 day rolling measured data. 

FoxMill Weather Station (VA-PW-13) provides detailed ground moisture information (including evapotranspiration plus multi-depth soil temperature and moisture readings) on a *daily* basis in the CoCoRaHS Daily Precipitation Report ”Observation Notes" section which is updated at 6 a.m. by the duty observer.

Data reported by: observer2 (ampersat) foxmill.us at FoxMill Weather Station, Saturday, 20 January 2018.