Drought in Claiborne County, TN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Claiborne County, TN: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 25
2. 20
3. 13
4. 0
5. 0
6. 8
7. 0
8. 41
9. 41
10. 1
11. 0
12. 0
13. 3
14. 0
15. 6
16. 2
17. 11
18. 0
19. 2
20. 4
21. 0
22. 0
23. 6
24. 12
25. 10
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (25 wk), 2001 (20 wk), 2002 (13 wk), 2007 (41 wk) and 2008 (41 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2025.

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

66th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Putnam County (1.9 in 10) and Hancock County (1.9 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 (30% of weeks), then Oct (23%) and Dec (23%). Least in Apr (5%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 20 Jan
2. 17 Feb
3. 11 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 19 Jun
7. 16 Jul
8. 9 Aug
9. 12 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 30 Nov
12. 23 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 41 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 16.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.5% at D2, 2.9% at D3, 11 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 46 weeks, May 22, 2007 to Apr 1, 2008.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 41 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 3.1 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 20 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Claiborne County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Claiborne County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.