Drought in Franklin County, IL: 0.8 years in 10 since 2000

0.8 years in 10

Franklin County, IL: 2 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2012 (18 wk) and 2022 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 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 IL

93rd most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Johnson County (0.8 in 10) and Jefferson County (0.8 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 Oct (18% of weeks), then Sep (17%) and Jul (12%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 10%.

1. 7 Jan
2. 4 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 6 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 12 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 17 Sep
10. 18 Oct
11. 9 Nov
12. 7 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 18 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.2% at D2, 0.4% at D3, 6 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 18 weeks, Jun 5, 2012 to Oct 2, 2012.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 17 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Franklin County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2012, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Franklin County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.