Current status

The figure shows the seasonal evolution of the averaged soil moisture anomalies (anomalies w.r.t. the long-term mean, soil moisture integrated over the top 50 cm of the soil) at the SwissSMEX grassland stations (see locations). The background climatology is based on the years 2010 to present (without data from the current year). On top, the evolution of the current year (green; one day latency, and based on currently available five stations where integration is possible), as well as that of the years 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2022 (browns) is shown. 2018 is comparable to 2015 with respect to the magnitude of the dryness, but shows an earlier onset and prolonged duration of the dry conditions. The 2020 spring is so far the driest on record. The conditions of 2022 appear drier than 2015 and 2018.

See here for an overview of the individual stations, and for respective deseasonalized and standardized anomalies.