(Worthington, Mn.)– The recent rain is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to replenishing subsoil moisture after an extremely dry late summer and early fall. That word from Liz Stahl of the University of Minnesota Extension Service. She says research shows a vast majority of rain that falls this time of year goes straight into the ground…
“A little tidbit from Mark Seeley, he’s our retired State Climatologist. He talks about that on average in the fall about 50 to 60 percent of that total precipitation that we get in the fall is stored in the soil. That’s like the highest fraction that we get for any time of year. We just have a lot less evaporating, for example. He says that storage efficiency could be as high as 80 percent, so meaning that if we got like an inch of rain, about eight tenths of that could be stored in the soil. So, again, you might not think hey, is it really worth it, this rain? Yes, it is. Precipitation really does help again just to get that recharge here before everything freezes up.”
Stahl says the pace at which the rain fell was also ideal, and that forecasts for additional precipitation next week will help out as well.
