Drought in Dauphin County, PA: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Dauphin County, PA: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (26 wk), 2017 (18 wk) and 2025 (22 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.

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 PA

16th most drought-prone of 67 PA counties; the PA middle is 0.8 in 10. Closest on the list: Pike County (1.2 in 10) and Bedford County (1.2 in 10). Driest in PA: Adams County (1.9 in 10). Least drought: Susquehanna County (0 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Dec (14% of weeks), then Feb (14%) and Nov (13%). Least in Jul (3%). May to September averages 4%.

1. 11 Jan
2. 14 Feb
3. 12 Mar
4. 12 Apr
5. 7 May
6. 4 Jun
7. 3 Jul
8. 3 Aug
9. 3 Sep
10. 8 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 14 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 26 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 0.9% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Oct 29, 2024 to May 13, 2025.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 22 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 13 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Dauphin County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2002, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Dauphin County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.