Drought in Alexander County, IL: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 3
2. 15
3. 1
4. 1
5. 0
6. 5
7. 0
8. 12
9. 0
10. 0
11. 10
12. 0
13. 33
14. 2
15. 0
16. 2
17. 4
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 15
24. 10
25. 13
26. 7

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (15 wk), 2012 (33 wk), 2022 (15 wk) and 2024 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of IL

72nd most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Will County (1.5 in 10) and Vermilion County (1.5 in 10). Driest in IL: Hancock County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Edwards County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (17% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Nov (16%). Least in Feb (1%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 8 Jan
2. 1 Feb
3. 2 Mar
4. 9 Apr
5. 13 May
6. 12 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 17 Oct
11. 16 Nov
12. 9 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 33 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.4% at D2, 1.4% at D3, 7 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 35 weeks, May 15, 2012 to Jan 8, 2013.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 14 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Alexander County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2012, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Alexander County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.