Drought in Benton County, MS: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 36
2. 6
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 8
7. 8
8. 31
9. 0
10. 0
11. 6
12. 5
13. 16
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 13
18. 6
19. 0
20. 0
21. 5
22. 0
23. 8
24. 12
25. 6
26. 1

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (36 wk), 2007 (31 wk), 2012 (16 wk) and 2016 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of MS

82nd most drought-prone of 82 MS counties; the MS middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Rankin County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MS: Tallahatchie County (4.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (21% of weeks), then Dec (20%) and Oct (19%). Least in Jun (5%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 17 Jan
2. 7 Feb
3. 11 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 5 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 18 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 19 Oct
11. 21 Nov
12. 20 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 36 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.8% at D2, 2.7% at D3, 5 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 31 weeks, Mar 27, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2016, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 24 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Benton County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2000, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Benton County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.