Drought in Allegany County, MD: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 0
2. 8
3. 18
4. 0
5. 0
6. 4
7. 0
8. 1
9. 0
10. 4
11. 18
12. 2
13. 0
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 4
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 0
24. 2
25. 28
26. 25

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (18 wk), 2010 (18 wk), 2024 (28 wk) and 2025 (25 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

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 MD

22nd most drought-prone of 24 MD counties; the MD middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Kent County (1.5 in 10) and Cecil County (1.2 in 10). Driest in MD: Wicomico County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Garrett County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (15% of weeks), then Sep (13%) and Apr (12%). Least in Jul (5%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 8 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 10 Mar
4. 12 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 5 Jul
8. 9 Aug
9. 13 Sep
10. 12 Oct
11. 15 Nov
12. 10 Dec

The worst year: 2024

2024: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.4% at D2, 0.2% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 36 weeks, Oct 28, 2025 to Jun 30, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 25 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 26 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Allegany County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2024, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Allegany County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.