Drought in Delaware County, IN: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2012 (16 wk), 2024 (15 wk) and 2025 (17 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of IN

44th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Wells County (1.5 in 10) and Morgan County (1.5 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 (15% of weeks), then Oct (14%) and Dec (14%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 7%.

1. 9 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 4 May
6. 4 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 13 Sep
10. 14 Oct
11. 15 Nov
12. 14 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4% at D2, 1.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Sep 16, 2025 to Mar 31, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 17 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

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