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

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (22 wk), 2007 (18 wk), 2012 (13 wk), 2023 (14 wk) and 2025 (17 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 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 Dec turns dry.

Against the rest of IL

65th most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Bond County (1.9 in 10) and Pope 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 Dec (13% of weeks), then Sep (12%) and Jul (12%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 9%.

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

The worst year: 2000

2000: 22 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.6% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 27 weeks, Sep 9, 2025 to Mar 10, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 17 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 16 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Fayette County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2000, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Fayette County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.