The Determination of Soil Moisture from Climatic Data *

A method of computing daily values of soil moisture from climatic data is described and comparisons with measured soil moisture values are given. Because the soil moisture values are obtained from climatic data only, past values of soil moisture content, unavailable otherwise, can be determined for any place for which climatic data are available. A long record of soil moisture is computed for one locality and estimates of the probabilities of occurrence of different levels of soil moisture are made. Such estimates are essential in any realistic long range planning.