Drought in Edgar County, IL: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 21
2. 2
3. 0
4. 2
5. 0
6. 9
7. 0
8. 3
9. 0
10. 0
11. 8
12. 7
13. 15
14. 0
15. 0
16. 1
17. 0
18. 4
19. 0
20. 0
21. 5
22. 0
23. 10
24. 20
25. 16
26. 28

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (21 wk), 2012 (15 wk), 2023 (20 wk), 2024 (16 wk) and 2025 (28 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 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 IL

56th most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Piatt County (1.9 in 10) and Moultrie County (1.9 in 10). Driest in IL: Hancock County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Edwards County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (17% of weeks), then Oct (16%) and Dec (16%). Least in May (6%). May to September averages 11%.

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

The worst year: 2025

2025: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.9% at D2, 0.6% at D3, 5 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Sep 2, 2025 to Mar 17, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 28 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 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

Edgar County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2025, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Edgar County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.