Drought in Dodge County, WI: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2003 (26 wk), 2005 (23 wk), 2012 (17 wk), 2022 (16 wk) and 2023 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

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 Jul turns dry.

Against the rest of WI

59th most drought-prone of 72 WI counties; the WI middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Portage County (1.9 in 10) and Oconto County (1.5 in 10). Driest in WI: Barron County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Fond du Lac County (0.8 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Jul (16% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Aug (15%). Least in May (0%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 6 Jan
2. 9 Feb
3. 13 Mar
4. 10 Apr
5. 0 May
6. 9 Jun
7. 16 Jul
8. 15 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 6 Nov
12. 2 Dec

The worst year: 2003

2003: 26 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.9% at D2, 0.1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 19 weeks, Jun 6, 2023 to Oct 10, 2023.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 1 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Dodge County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2003, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Dodge County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.