Drought in Adair County, KY: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Adair County, KY: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 11
2. 6
3. 2
4. 0
5. 0
6. 9
7. 5
8. 26
9. 20
10. 1
11. 0
12. 6
13. 5
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 8
18. 0
19. 0
20. 3
21. 0
22. 0
23. 10
24. 13
25. 4
26. 3

20002025

Drought years: 2007 (26 wk), 2008 (20 wk) and 2023 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2021.

A regular lawn is fine here; plan for the odd dry year

Real droughts are rare here. A smart controller that skips watering after rain covers the odd dry year.

You can keep a regular lawn. Worth doing: a rain-sensing or smart controller, and deeper, less frequent watering if Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

63rd most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Owsley County (1.2 in 10) and Madison County (1.2 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (23% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Oct (15%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 12 Jan
2. 4 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 11 Jun
7. 12 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 15 Oct
11. 23 Nov
12. 15 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 26 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.9% at D2, 1.1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 26 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Nov 27, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 15 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Adair County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2007, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Adair County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.