Drought in Green Lake County, WI: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 9
2. 0
3. 0
4. 16
5. 2
6. 12
7. 0
8. 4
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 15
14. 10
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 6
23. 13
24. 29
25. 20
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2003 (16 wk), 2012 (15 wk), 2022 (13 wk), 2023 (29 wk) and 2024 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2025.

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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of WI

57th most drought-prone of 72 WI counties; the WI middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Wood County (1.9 in 10) and Portage County (1.9 in 10). Driest in WI: Barron County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Fond du Lac County (0.8 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (19% of weeks), then Sep (18%) and Aug (17%). Least in May (1%). May to September averages 11%.

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

The worst year: 2023

2023: 29 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3% at D2, 0.1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 45 weeks, Jun 13, 2023 to Apr 16, 2024.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 4 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Green Lake County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2023, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Green Lake County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.