Drought in Bristol County, RI: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 0
2. 7
3. 27
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 0
8. 12
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 8
14. 9
15. 5
16. 2
17. 24
18. 11
19. 0
20. 0
21. 18
22. 0
23. 20
24. 0
25. 4
26. 2

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (27 wk), 2016 (24 wk), 2020 (18 wk) and 2022 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023.

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.

Drought has been more common in 2016-2025 (3 years in 10) than in 2000-2015 (0.6 in 10).

Against the rest of RI

5th most drought-prone of 5 RI counties; the RI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Newport County (1.5 in 10). Driest in RI: Providence County (2.3 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (19% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Aug (15%). Least in Mar (7%). May to September averages 12%.

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

The worst year: 2002

2002: 27 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.2% at D2, 0.7% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 35 weeks, Jul 19, 2016 to Mar 14, 2017.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, drier lately. So far in 2026: 12 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Bristol County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran drier than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Bristol County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.