Drought in Hamilton County, IN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2012 (16 wk), 2023 (14 wk), 2024 (13 wk) and 2025 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

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 IN

29th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Fountain County (1.9 in 10) and Tipton County (1.9 in 10). Driest in IN: LaGrange County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Floyd County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (15% of weeks), then Dec (14%) and Oct (13%). Least in May (4%). May to September averages 7%.

1. 11 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 4 May
6. 6 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 10 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 15 Nov
12. 14 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.7% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 28 weeks, Sep 16, 2025 to Mar 24, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 14 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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