Soil moisture

Soil moisture

Soils mostly at field capacity

By the end of June soils were mostly at field capacity in the North Island (apart from an area of south Wairarapa), and in the north, west and south of the South Island. Lower than normal rainfall in the east of the South Island slowed soil moisture recovery in some areas. At the end of the month, some areas of Marlborough, south Canterbury and Otago were still drier than normal.

Soil moisture deficit in the pasture root zone at the end of June (right) compared with the deficit at the same time last year (centre) and the long term end of June average (left). The analysis is done for an average soil type where the available water capacity is taken to be 150 mm.