Drought in Harlan County, KY: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 25
2. 17
3. 12
4. 0
5. 0
6. 14
7. 0
8. 40
9. 32
10. 1
11. 0
12. 0
13. 0
14. 0
15. 3
16. 2
17. 10
18. 0
19. 0
20. 7
21. 0
22. 0
23. 3
24. 9
25. 4
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (25 wk), 2001 (17 wk), 2005 (14 wk), 2007 (40 wk) and 2008 (32 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

6th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Hickman County (1.9 in 10) and McCracken County (1.9 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (29% of weeks), then Oct (23%) and Dec (21%). Least in Apr (4%). May to September averages 10%.

1. 15 Jan
2. 12 Feb
3. 10 Mar
4. 4 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 14 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 13 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 29 Nov
12. 21 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 40 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.1% at D2, 1.9% at D3, 15 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 44 weeks, May 22, 2007 to Mar 18, 2008.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 32 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 3.1 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 13 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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