Drought in Casey County, KY: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2005 (14 wk), 2007 (25 wk), 2008 (19 wk) and 2023 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

33rd most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Taylor County (1.5 in 10) and Pulaski County (1.5 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 (23% of weeks), then Oct (20%) and Sep (16%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 12 Jan
2. 3 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 12 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 9 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 20 Oct
11. 23 Nov
12. 15 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 25 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5% at D2, 2% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 25 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Nov 20, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 15 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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