Drought in Hardy County, WV: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000
1.9 years in 10
Hardy County, WV: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.
- 0
- 7
- 22
- 0
- 0
- 1
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 3
- 22
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 2
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 20
- 25
- 28
20002025
Drought years: 2002 (22 wk), 2010 (22 wk), 2023 (20 wk), 2024 (25 wk) and 2025 (28 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.
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 WV
5th most drought-prone of 55 WV counties; the WV middle is 0.8 in 10. Closest on the list: Berkeley County (1.9 in 10) and Grant County (1.9 in 10). Driest in WV: Mercer County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Hancock County (0.4 in 10).
When in the year it hits
Most often in Oct (18% of weeks), then Nov (17%) and Sep (16%). Least in Mar (6%). May to September averages 11%.
- 8 Jan
- 9 Feb
- 6 Mar
- 11 Apr
- 8 May
- 7 Jun
- 11 Jul
- 10 Aug
- 16 Sep
- 18 Oct
- 17 Nov
- 13 Dec
The worst year: 2025
2025: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.2% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.5% at D2, 0.9% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 25 weeks, Jun 25, 2024 to Dec 10, 2024.
Lately
Last drought year: 2025, 28 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 27 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.
Further reading
Hardy County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2025, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Hardy County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.