Drought in Dickson County, TN: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (34 wk), 2007 (26 wk), 2008 (14 wk) and 2022 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 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 TN

86th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Hickman County (1.5 in 10) and Lewis County (1.5 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 (26% of weeks), then Sep (22%) and Oct (21%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 15%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 12 Feb
3. 3 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 13 Jun
7. 15 Jul
8. 15 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 21 Oct
11. 26 Nov
12. 18 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 34 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.8% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5% at D2, 1.7% at D3, 11 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 26 weeks, May 1, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 26 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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