Drought in Eaton County, MI: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (16 wk), 2003 (17 wk), 2005 (16 wk), 2023 (15 wk) and 2025 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 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 Dec turns dry.

Against the rest of MI

21st most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Van Buren County (1.9 in 10) and Kalamazoo County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MI: Gogebic County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Newaygo County (0.8 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Dec (16% of weeks), then Jul (13%) and Jan (13%). Least in May (6%). May to September averages 9%.

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

The worst year: 2003

2003: 17 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.2% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.2% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Sep 24, 2002 to Apr 8, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 0 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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