Drought in Chester County, TN: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 36
2. 9
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 3
7. 6
8. 30
9. 0
10. 0
11. 11
12. 6
13. 26
14. 0
15. 0
16. 3
17. 11
18. 0
19. 0
20. 2
21. 5
22. 0
23. 12
24. 12
25. 16
26. 9

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (36 wk), 2007 (30 wk), 2012 (26 wk) and 2024 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of TN

83rd most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Montgomery County (1.9 in 10) and Davidson County (1.5 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 Oct (28% of weeks), then Nov (24%) and Sep (22%). Least in Apr (6%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 17 Feb
3. 10 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 12 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 19 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 28 Oct
11. 24 Nov
12. 20 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 36 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 16.2% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.9% at D2, 2.8% at D3, 5 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 31 weeks, Jul 18, 2000 to Feb 13, 2001.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 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

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