Antecedent soil moisture conditions of different soil types in South‐western Ontario, Canada

Abstract Soil moisture conditions prior to input design storms need to be known in the planning and design of urban stormwater control facilities using the design storm approach. Limited information is available on these soil moisture conditions which are commonly referred to as the antecedent soil moisture conditions. In this study, a deterministic continuous simulation model was used to simulate antecedent soil moisture conditions under south‐western Ontario, Canada, climate conditions. A wide range of different soil types were investigated and various statistical analyses on the simulated antecedent soil moisture results were performed. Frequency analyses illustrated typical distributions of antecedent soil moisture conditions and the influence of finer and coarser textured soil particles. Empirical equations were developed for the estimation of average antecedent soil moisture conditions based on commonly known soil characteristics. Satisfactory performance of the empirical equations was demonstrated by comparing between field average antecedent soil moisture data and empirically estimated average antecedent soil moisture values. These equations are therefore recommended for use in urban stormwater studies incorporating the design storm approach. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.