Virginia is a four-season state. August days can be - on the average - hot and humid, while January days can be cold and dry. The warmth in the air in early Spring, and the chill in the air in the Fall, feel different from other seasons. That's the climate pattern.
A hydric soil is a soil that is saturated, flooded, or ponded long enough during the growing season to develop anaerobic conditions in the upper part. 1  This definition can be broken up into three component parts: 2  The soil is saturated, flooded or ponded. Saturated conditions are often the result of a high water table.
Examine the soils to see if hydric soil indicators are present. Take a shovel, dig a hole 12 inches (30 cm) deep and look at the soil. If indicators like those explained above are found, the soils might hydric. If there is a rotten egg smell, the soils are probably hydric. If water fills in the hole that was dug, the soils are likely to be hydric.