My brother is an anthropologist working with climate related issues in the Andes and Africa. I asked him about soil moisture vis a vis Mike Mace's Mediterranean climate maps. He suggested these two sites: For soil moisture, I did find http://www.cpc.noaa.gov/soilmst/w.shtml for the US. And this link http://cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/soilmst/globalsoil.pdf/ takes you to a global soil moisture dataset, the researcher there might have some more sources. Mike, take it away! Judy in New Jersey where we were sufficiently north to just be brushed by the storm's fringes. The moisture is laying on top of the ground in the form of 8 inches of snow.