Drought in Cole County, MO: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 11
2. 0
3. 7
4. 8
5. 0
6. 8
7. 27
8. 4
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 28
14. 10
15. 3
16. 4
17. 0
18. 10
19. 11
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 9
24. 34
25. 14
26. 12

20002025

Drought years: 2006 (27 wk), 2012 (28 wk), 2023 (34 wk) and 2024 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 2020 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 MO

106th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Wright County (1.9 in 10) and Washington County (1.5 in 10). Driest in MO: Jasper County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Perry County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (25% of weeks), then Nov (22%) and Aug (22%). Least in Apr (7%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 16 Feb
3. 11 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 13 May
6. 9 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 22 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 25 Oct
11. 22 Nov
12. 10 Dec

The worst year: 2023

2023: 34 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.4% at D2, 1.3% at D3, 2 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 44 weeks, May 9, 2023 to Mar 5, 2024.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 9 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Cole County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2023, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Cole County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.