Drought in Alcona County, MI: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

Alcona County, MI: 4 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (14 wk), 2003 (20 wk), 2024 (13 wk) and 2025 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023.

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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of MI

53rd most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Kent County (1.5 in 10) and Leelanau County (1.5 in 10). Driest in MI: Gogebic County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Newaygo County (0.8 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (13% of weeks), then Nov (11%) and Dec (9%). Least in Sep (5%). May to September averages 6%.

1. 7 Jan
2. 7 Feb
3. 7 Mar
4. 9 Apr
5. 7 May
6. 6 Jun
7. 6 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 5 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 11 Nov
12. 9 Dec

The worst year: 2003

2003: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 7.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.6% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Oct 1, 2002 to Apr 15, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 0 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Alcona County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2003, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Alcona County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.