DroughtOdds

Drought in Calvert County, MD: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (46 wk), 2007 (25 wk), 2012 (23 wk), 2023 (13 wk) and 2025 (24 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020, 2021 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 Apr turns dry.

Against the rest of MD

9th most drought-prone of 24 MD counties; the MD middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Saint Mary's County (1.9 in 10) and Carroll County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MD: Wicomico County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Garrett County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Apr (22% of weeks), then Jul (21%) and Jan (19%). Least in Sep (10%). May to September averages 16%.

  1. 19 Jan
  2. 13 Feb
  3. 16 Mar
  4. 22 Apr
  5. 16 May
  6. 16 Jun
  7. 21 Jul
  8. 15 Aug
  9. 10 Sep
  10. 13 Oct
  11. 13 Nov
  12. 18 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 46 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7% at D2, 1.3% at D3, 2 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 52 weeks, Nov 20, 2001 to Nov 12, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 24 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 30 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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