Drought in Garrett County, MD: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Garrett County, MD: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (13 wk), 2024 (26 wk) and 2025 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 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 Sep turns dry.

Against the rest of MD

24th most drought-prone of 24 MD counties; the MD middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Cecil County (1.2 in 10). Driest in MD: Wicomico County (3.1 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Sep (13% of weeks), then Oct (13%) and Nov (10%). Least in Jan (3%). May to September averages 6%.

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

The worst year: 2024

2024: 26 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 6.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.3% at D2, 0.6% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 26 weeks, Jun 25, 2024 to Dec 17, 2024.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 14 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Garrett County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2024, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Garrett County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.