The FoxMill Weather Station temperature-compensated soil moisture readings at the 3 and 5 inch levels are 16 and 12 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 52°F and 52°F. Soil moisture education note: Barring a torrential downpour resulting in standing field water, the soil moisture levels at 3 & 5 inches in the station’s Buckhall clay will lag rainfall by 12 - 30 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 1.89 inch of precipitation recorded in the past seven days since the last Condition Monitoring Report was submitted. Weekly evapotranspiration (ETo) total was 0.74 inch resulting in a 1.15 inch ground moisture surfeit.

Last Sunday night through mid-morning Monday saw widely varying rainfall amounts throughout the northern portion of the Commonwealth. Here at the FoxMill Station, we recorded 1.83 inch of rain including one short period when the commercial calibration-certified piezoelectric rain gauge registered an average rainfall rate downburst of 3.533 inches/hour. But amazingly, the storm runoff was much lower than we expected…meaning a good percentage of the rain was absorbed by the vegetation and by the ground which had reached the “Moderately Dry” category on Saturday.

Well maintained residential lawns in the area have all been mowed at least twice and chemical burn-down spraying of corn fields in preparation for no-till planting is well underway. The well-drained soils dried out enough to permit no-till planting to start yesterday. Farmers are in the fields aggressively this weekend to beat the inch (plus) of rain expected Tuesday night. We should note that the unusually cool spring weather thus far has curtailed pasture growth a bit. And we are seeing a foliage blooming delay and the amphibians are late coming out of hibernation. 

2017 - 2018 seasonal snowfall amounted to 9.3 inches. This will be the last snowfall seasonal report until the fall. 

This morning’s weighted soil-moisture reading puts us in the very upper end of the “Mildly Wet” range as defined by CoCoRaHS. The soil around the FoxMill Station is a mere 0.4 centibars from sliding into the “Near Normal” category.

April cumulative totals: precip 1.98 inch; ETo 2.12 inch resulting in a monthly ground moisture deficit of 0.14 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, 21 April 2018.