Drought in Carter County, KY: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2005 (17 wk), 2007 (27 wk) and 2008 (15 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

97th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Fleming County (1.2 in 10) and Rowan County (1.2 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (20% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Oct (14%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 8%.

1. 9 Jan
2. 3 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 6 May
6. 4 Jun
7. 5 Jul
8. 7 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 14 Oct
11. 20 Nov
12. 14 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 27 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.5% at D2, 0.7% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 27 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Dec 4, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 15 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 6 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Carter County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2007, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Carter County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.