Drought in Ashe County, NC: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Ashe County, NC: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 22
2. 35
3. 35
4. 0
5. 0
6. 1
7. 3
8. 39
9. 53
10. 7
11. 11
12. 3
13. 0
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 7
18. 11
19. 0
20. 5
21. 0
22. 2
23. 1
24. 9
25. 5
26. 6

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (22 wk), 2001 (35 wk), 2002 (35 wk), 2007 (39 wk) and 2008 (53 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018 and 2020.

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 Mar turns dry.

Against the rest of NC

94th most drought-prone of 100 NC counties; the NC middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Stokes County (1.9 in 10) and Alleghany County (1.9 in 10). Driest in NC: Cleveland County (5 in 10). Least drought: Gates County (1.5 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Mar (27% of weeks), then Nov (26%) and Dec (25%). Least in Aug (13%). May to September averages 17%.

1. 23 Jan
2. 21 Feb
3. 27 Mar
4. 22 Apr
5. 16 May
6. 19 Jun
7. 23 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 21 Oct
11. 26 Nov
12. 25 Dec

The worst year: 2008

2008: 53 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 20.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 9.8% at D2, 4.4% at D3, 19 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 89 weeks, May 1, 2007 to Jan 6, 2009.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 53 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 3.1 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 38 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Ashe County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Ashe County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.