Drought in Clarke County, MS: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 43
2. 3
3. 3
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 19
8. 38
9. 2
10. 0
11. 10
12. 16
13. 0
14. 0
15. 7
16. 2
17. 12
18. 9
19. 6
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 0
24. 16
25. 5
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (43 wk), 2006 (19 wk), 2007 (38 wk), 2011 (16 wk) and 2023 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 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 MS

77th most drought-prone of 82 MS counties; the MS middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Alcorn County (1.9 in 10) and Smith County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MS: Tallahatchie County (4.2 in 10). Least drought: Benton County (1.5 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (22% of weeks), then Dec (22%) and Jan (21%). Least in Apr (7%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 21 Jan
2. 9 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 10 May
6. 13 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 13 Sep
10. 20 Oct
11. 22 Nov
12. 22 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 43 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.4% at D2, 2.3% at D3, 9 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 34 weeks, May 30, 2000 to Jan 16, 2001.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 7 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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