Drought in Coles County, IL: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (21 wk), 2012 (15 wk), 2023 (15 wk) and 2025 (24 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 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 Dec turns dry.

Against the rest of IL

76th most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Madison County (1.5 in 10) and Jasper County (1.5 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 Dec (15% of weeks), then Sep (13%) and Oct (12%). Least in Apr (4%). May to September averages 9%.

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

The worst year: 2025

2025: 24 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.6% at D2, 0.7% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Sep 2, 2025 to Mar 17, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 24 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 13 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Coles County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2025, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Coles County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.