01/19/2026
I have a probe that's been in a dryland field for observations since May, and the data is pretty interesting.
Most years we’ll see the top 4-6” of soil stay frozen pretty consistently starting in early December. This year hasn’t looked like that at all.
Over the past 30–60 days, we’ve really only had three short periods where the 4–6” zone actually dropped below freezing, and even then it didn’t last long. Altogether it’s only been frozen a handful of days, not weeks like a normal winter.
What’s also interesting is the soil moisture. It’s felt dry because we haven’t had much precipitation, but when you look at the soil data, the profile really isn’t in that bad of shape. Once crops are done, there aren’t roots pulling water anymore, so moisture loss slows way down.
It's a good reminder that air temps and how things feel on the surface don’t always match what’s actually happening in the soil.
The blue arrows in the photo line up with the few times the 4–6” soil temp dropped below freezing. Those sharp moisture drops aren’t the soil actually drying out — that’s liquid water freezing, which temporarily makes the sensor read lower moisture until the soil warms back up.
