Drought in Clark County, IL: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2012 (15 wk), 2023 (16 wk), 2024 (15 wk) and 2025 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 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 IL

63rd most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Macoupin County (1.9 in 10) and Bond County (1.9 in 10). Driest in IL: Hancock County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Edwards County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (18% of weeks), then Dec (15%) and Oct (13%). Least in Apr (4%). May to September averages 8%.

1. 11 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 4 Apr
5. 6 May
6. 6 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 7 Aug
9. 10 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 18 Nov
12. 15 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.3% at D2, 0.4% at D3, 5 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 25 weeks, Sep 23, 2025 to Mar 10, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 12 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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