Drought in Cape May County, NJ: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Cape May County, NJ: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 0
2. 11
3. 44
4. 0
5. 0
6. 4
7. 1
8. 7
9. 1
10. 0
11. 6
12. 0
13. 10
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 1
21. 0
22. 0
23. 13
24. 4
25. 12
26. 19

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (44 wk), 2022 (13 wk) and 2025 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 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 Apr turns dry.

Against the rest of NJ

13th most drought-prone of 21 NJ counties; the NJ middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Middlesex County (1.2 in 10) and Cumberland County (1.2 in 10). Driest in NJ: Passaic County (1.9 in 10). Least drought: Monmouth County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Apr (16% of weeks), then Sep (15%) and May (14%). Least in Nov (7%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 11 Jan
2. 11 Feb
3. 12 Mar
4. 16 Apr
5. 14 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 15 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 7 Nov
12. 8 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 44 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.8% at D2, 2.2% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 53 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Oct 29, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 34 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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