Drought in Decatur County, TN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 37
2. 11
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 3
7. 1
8. 29
9. 0
10. 0
11. 11
12. 6
13. 16
14. 0
15. 0
16. 2
17. 8
18. 0
19. 0
20. 2
21. 5
22. 0
23. 18
24. 11
25. 23
26. 5

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (37 wk), 2007 (29 wk), 2012 (16 wk), 2022 (18 wk) and 2024 (23 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 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 TN

70th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Williamson County (1.9 in 10) and Fayette County (1.9 in 10). Driest in TN: Bradley County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Robertson County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (25% of weeks), then Oct (23%) and Sep (22%). Least in Apr (6%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 16 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 17 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 25 Nov
12. 19 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 37 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.4% at D2, 2.3% at D3, 5 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 32 weeks, Jul 11, 2000 to Feb 13, 2001.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 23 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 30 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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