Drought in Cheatham County, TN: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

1. 31
2. 10
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 8
7. 3
8. 30
9. 19
10. 0
11. 9
12. 8
13. 6
14. 0
15. 0
16. 3
17. 11
18. 0
19. 0
20. 2
21. 0
22. 0
23. 11
24. 11
25. 8
26. 8

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (31 wk), 2007 (30 wk) and 2008 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 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 TN

91st most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Hardeman County (1.2 in 10) and Trousdale County (1.2 in 10). Driest in TN: Bradley County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Robertson County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (29% of weeks), then Oct (24%) and Sep (22%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 20 Jan
2. 13 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 14 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 24 Oct
11. 29 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 31 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.4% at D2, 1.7% at D3, 9 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 30 weeks, May 1, 2007 to Nov 20, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 26 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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