Drought in Bath County, VA: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 0
2. 10
3. 29
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 0
8. 2
9. 4
10. 13
11. 8
12. 5
13. 0
14. 5
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 4
21. 0
22. 5
23. 0
24. 16
25. 21
26. 16

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (29 wk), 2009 (13 wk), 2023 (16 wk), 2024 (21 wk) and 2025 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 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 Dec turns dry.

Against the rest of VA

97th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Essex County (1.9 in 10) and Hopewell City (1.9 in 10). Driest in VA: Halifax County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Covington City (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Dec (17% of weeks), then Oct (17%) and Jan (16%). Least in May (5%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 16 Jan
2. 14 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 8 Apr
5. 5 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 10 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 14 Sep
10. 17 Oct
11. 14 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 29 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.1% at D2, 0.2% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 26 weeks, Nov 6, 2001 to Apr 30, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 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

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