Drought in Clay County, IN: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Clay County, IN: 3 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. 0
7. 0
8. 6
9. 0
10. 0
11. 10
12. 5
13. 16
14. 0
15. 0
16. 7
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 8
22. 0
23. 10
24. 19
25. 9
26. 11

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2012 (16 wk) and 2023 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 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 IN

52nd most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Jasper County (1.2 in 10) and Owen County (1.2 in 10). Driest in IN: LaGrange County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Floyd County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (20% of weeks), then Oct (18%) and Sep (17%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 9%.

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

The worst year: 2000

2000: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D1 moderate. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.4% at D2, 0.5% at D3, 6 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 20 weeks, Jan 4, 2000 to May 16, 2000.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 2 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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