Drought in Emporia City, VA: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Emporia City, VA: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 0
2. 9
3. 43
4. 0
5. 0
6. 4
7. 9
8. 25
9. 23
10. 0
11. 13
12. 14
13. 5
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 4
20. 1
21. 0
22. 6
23. 2
24. 0
25. 9
26. 6

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (43 wk), 2007 (25 wk), 2008 (23 wk), 2010 (13 wk) and 2011 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2023.

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 Sep turns dry.

Against the rest of VA

79th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Russell County (1.9 in 10) and Harrisonburg City (1.9 in 10). Driest in VA: Halifax County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Covington City (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Sep (22% of weeks), then Aug (19%) and Jan (18%). Least in Nov (9%). May to September averages 16%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 15 Feb
3. 16 Mar
4. 18 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 13 Jun
7. 18 Jul
8. 19 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 9 Nov
12. 15 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 43 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 8.7% at D2, 1.6% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 52 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Oct 22, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2011, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 3.1 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 44 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Emporia City lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Emporia City's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.