Studies with 41 soils selected to obtain a wide range in properties showed that air‐dry and moist soils have substantial capacities for sorption of SO2from air (averages, 1.80 and 9.98 g S kg‐1soil, respectively). Soil properties influencing the capacities of air‐dry soils for sorptlon of SO2included clay content, surface area, DCB‐soluble Mn, CaCO3equivalent, dpH, acid‐titratable basicity, and sulfate sorption capacity. The corresponding capacities of moist soils were influenced by surface area and soil properties associated with CaCO3equivalent. It was possible to closely predict the SO2sorption capacities of both air‐dry and moist soils (R2‐ 0.913 and 0.939, respectively) from consideration of their properties