Drought in Gasconade County, MO: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (16 wk), 2006 (24 wk), 2012 (28 wk), 2017 (20 wk) and 2023 (26 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of MO

98th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Osage County (1.9 in 10) and Pulaski County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MO: Jasper County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Perry County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (20% of weeks), then Jan (18%) and Oct (18%). Least in Apr (8%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 12 Feb
3. 13 Mar
4. 8 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 17 Aug
9. 10 Sep
10. 18 Oct
11. 20 Nov
12. 14 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.7% at D2, 0.5% at D3, 1 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 37 weeks, Jun 19, 2012 to Feb 26, 2013.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 26 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 5 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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