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

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 36
2. 12
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 13
7. 9
8. 28
9. 0
10. 0
11. 12
12. 8
13. 27
14. 0
15. 0
16. 4
17. 11
18. 0
19. 0
20. 2
21. 0
22. 0
23. 8
24. 13
25. 6
26. 10

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (36 wk), 2005 (13 wk), 2007 (28 wk), 2012 (27 wk) and 2023 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of TN

71st most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Decatur County (1.9 in 10) and Wayne County (1.9 in 10). Driest in TN: Bradley County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Robertson County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (28% of weeks), then Nov (25%) and Aug (21%). Least in Apr (4%). May to September averages 15%.

1. 21 Jan
2. 15 Feb
3. 5 Mar
4. 4 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 21 Aug
9. 21 Sep
10. 28 Oct
11. 25 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 36 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7% at D2, 2% at D3, 2 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 31 weeks, Jul 18, 2000 to Feb 13, 2001.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 20 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.