Drought in Buchanan County, VA: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000
1.9 years in 10
Buchanan County, VA: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.
- 21
- 22
- 20
- 0
- 0
- 3
- 3
- 33
- 30
- 4
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 1
- 0
- 6
- 0
- 0
- 5
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 7
- 0
20002025
Drought years: 2000 (21 wk), 2001 (22 wk), 2002 (20 wk), 2007 (33 wk) and 2008 (30 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2025.
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 VA
95th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Richmond City (1.9 in 10) and Essex 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 Nov (20% of weeks), then Jan (19%) and Feb (16%). Least in Apr (7%). May to September averages 10%.
- 19 Jan
- 16 Feb
- 12 Mar
- 7 Apr
- 8 May
- 8 Jun
- 11 Jul
- 8 Aug
- 14 Sep
- 13 Oct
- 20 Nov
- 15 Dec
The worst year: 2007
2007: 33 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 12.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.6% at D2, 1.1% at D3, 5 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 38 weeks, Jun 19, 2007 to Mar 4, 2008.
Lately
Last drought year: 2008, 30 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 3.1 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 18 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.
Further reading
Buchanan County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Buchanan County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.