Drought in Grafton County, NH: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

Grafton County, NH: 4 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (18 wk), 2002 (14 wk), 2020 (17 wk) and 2025 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019 and 2023.

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 NH

10th most drought-prone of 10 NH counties; the NH middle is 2.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Coos County (1.9 in 10). Driest in NH: Strafford County (3.1 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Dec (17% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Nov (15%). Least in May (3%). May to September averages 7%.

1. 12 Jan
2. 11 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 3 May
6. 4 Jun
7. 4 Jul
8. 5 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 14 Oct
11. 15 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2025

2025: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.8% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 39 weeks, Aug 19, 2025 to May 12, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 25 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Grafton County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2025, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Grafton County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.