Drought in Baltimore City, MD: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Baltimore City, MD: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 0
2. 11
3. 46
4. 0
5. 0
6. 3
7. 3
8. 13
9. 0
10. 4
11. 1
12. 2
13. 9
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 6
18. 17
19. 7
20. 4
21. 0
22. 0
23. 2
24. 17
25. 12
26. 30

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (46 wk), 2007 (13 wk), 2017 (17 wk), 2023 (17 wk) and 2025 (30 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 Apr turns dry.

Against the rest of MD

11th most drought-prone of 24 MD counties; the MD middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Carroll County (1.9 in 10) and Frederick County (1.9 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 Apr (22% of weeks), then Jul (21%) and Jan (19%). Least in Sep (6%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 19 Jan
2. 17 Feb
3. 16 Mar
4. 22 Apr
5. 15 May
6. 15 Jun
7. 21 Jul
8. 12 Aug
9. 6 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 19 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 46 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.3% at D2, 1.6% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 55 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Nov 12, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 30 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 31 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Baltimore City lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2002, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Baltimore City's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.