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

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (19 wk), 2007 (13 wk), 2012 (16 wk), 2023 (14 wk) and 2025 (15 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of IN

32nd most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Howard County (1.9 in 10) and White County (1.5 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 Oct (16% of weeks), then Sep (14%) and Nov (13%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 8 Jan
2. 5 Feb
3. 3 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 4 May
6. 5 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 12 Aug
9. 14 Sep
10. 16 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 10 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 19 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.9% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 16 weeks, Jan 4, 2000 to Apr 18, 2000.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 15 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 0 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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