Drought in Alger County, MI: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2005 (13 wk), 2007 (23 wk) and 2024 (17 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025.

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

73rd most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Antrim County (1.2 in 10) and Grand Traverse County (1.2 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 (15% of weeks), then Nov (12%) and Jun (8%). Least in Dec (4%). May to September averages 7%.

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

The worst year: 2007

2007: 23 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 7.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.4% at D2, 0.1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 14 weeks, Jul 10, 2007 to Oct 9, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 17 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 5 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Alger 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 Alger County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.