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

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 4
2. 10
3. 40
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 2
8. 13
9. 15
10. 10
11. 1
12. 6
13. 0
14. 5
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 5
21. 0
22. 3
23. 0
24. 15
25. 11
26. 17

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (40 wk), 2007 (13 wk), 2008 (15 wk), 2023 (15 wk) and 2025 (17 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2005, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of VA

85th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Franklin City (1.9 in 10) and Dickenson County (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 Oct (22% of weeks), then Nov (20%) and Dec (19%). Least in May (7%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 15 Jan
2. 15 Feb
3. 12 Mar
4. 10 Apr
5. 7 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 12 Jul
8. 11 Aug
9. 19 Sep
10. 22 Oct
11. 20 Nov
12. 19 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 40 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.6% at D2, 0.5% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 40 weeks, Jan 6, 2026 to Oct 6, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 17 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 40 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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