Drought in Hardin County, IL: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 0
2. 14
3. 9
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 0
8. 14
9. 0
10. 0
11. 17
12. 0
13. 28
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 5
18. 0
19. 0
20. 3
21. 0
22. 0
23. 11
24. 6
25. 7
26. 4

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (14 wk), 2007 (14 wk), 2010 (17 wk) and 2012 (28 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 Sep turns dry.

Against the rest of IL

78th most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Jasper County (1.5 in 10) and Clinton County (1.5 in 10). Driest in IL: Hancock County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Edwards County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Sep (20% of weeks), then Oct (16%) and Nov (13%). Least in Mar (1%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 2 Jan
2. 1 Feb
3. 1 Mar
4. 4 Apr
5. 10 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 20 Sep
10. 16 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 7 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.4% at D2, 0.8% at D3, 8 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 26 weeks, May 15, 2012 to Nov 6, 2012.

Lately

Last drought year: 2012, 28 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 8 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Hardin County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Hardin County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.