Drought in Franklin County, VA: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 7
2. 20
3. 46
4. 0
5. 0
6. 1
7. 14
8. 19
9. 43
10. 0
11. 4
12. 7
13. 6
14. 2
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 1
19. 6
20. 5
21. 0
22. 4
23. 0
24. 9
25. 9
26. 10

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (20 wk), 2002 (46 wk), 2006 (14 wk), 2007 (19 wk) and 2008 (43 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020 and 2022.

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 VA

67th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Carroll County (1.9 in 10) and Galax 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 Dec (24% of weeks), then Nov (20%) and Oct (19%). Least in Aug (13%). May to September averages 16%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 18 Feb
3. 17 Mar
4. 16 Apr
5. 18 May
6. 17 Jun
7. 16 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 17 Sep
10. 19 Oct
11. 20 Nov
12. 24 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 46 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 17.8% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.8% at D2, 1.8% at D3, 15 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 62 weeks, Aug 21, 2007 to Oct 21, 2008.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 43 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 3.1 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 36 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Franklin County 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 Franklin County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.