Drought in Grayson County, KY: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2007 (20 wk), 2008 (14 wk) and 2022 (15 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2017, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

53rd most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Logan County (1.2 in 10) and Washington County (1.2 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (24% of weeks), then Oct (18%) and Dec (18%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 13 Jan
2. 6 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 4 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 18 Oct
11. 24 Nov
12. 18 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.7% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 19 weeks, Oct 19, 2010 to Feb 22, 2011.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 15 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 12 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Grayson County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2007, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Grayson County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.