Drought in Essex County, VA: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000
1.9 years in 10
Essex County, VA: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.
- 0
- 9
- 46
- 0
- 0
- 3
- 4
- 25
- 16
- 0
- 13
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 2
- 0
- 0
- 1
- 5
- 13
- 7
20002025
Drought years: 2002 (46 wk), 2007 (25 wk), 2008 (16 wk), 2010 (13 wk) and 2024 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 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 Apr turns dry.
Against the rest of VA
96th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Buchanan County (1.9 in 10) and Bath County (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 Apr (16% of weeks), then Jan (15%) and Jul (15%). Least in May (7%). May to September averages 11%.
- 15 Jan
- 14 Feb
- 13 Mar
- 16 Apr
- 7 May
- 9 Jun
- 15 Jul
- 12 Aug
- 13 Sep
- 13 Oct
- 13 Nov
- 11 Dec
The worst year: 2002
2002: 46 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 12.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.6% at D2, 1% at D3, 2 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 55 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Nov 12, 2002.
Lately
Last drought year: 2024, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 29 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.
Further reading
Essex County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2002, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Essex County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.