Drought in Bedford County, VA: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (46 wk), 2007 (18 wk), 2008 (22 wk) and 2023 (17 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 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

100th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Amherst County (1.5 in 10) and Waynesboro City (1.5 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 (24% of weeks), then Nov (22%) and Oct (22%). Least in May (12%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 19 Jan
2. 16 Feb
3. 16 Mar
4. 16 Apr
5. 12 May
6. 16 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 19 Sep
10. 22 Oct
11. 22 Nov
12. 24 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 46 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 17.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.2% at D2, 1.4% at D3, 3 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 55 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Nov 12, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 17 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 44 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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