Drought in Haywood County, TN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 35
2. 20
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 8
7. 9
8. 26
9. 0
10. 0
11. 12
12. 10
13. 30
14. 2
15. 0
16. 6
17. 11
18. 0
19. 0
20. 2
21. 0
22. 0
23. 9
24. 12
25. 15
26. 11

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (35 wk), 2001 (20 wk), 2007 (26 wk), 2012 (30 wk) and 2024 (15 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2014, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of TN

62nd most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Lawrence County (1.9 in 10) and White County (1.9 in 10). Driest in TN: Bradley County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Robertson County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (27% of weeks), then Nov (25%) and Jan (24%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 16%.

1. 24 Jan
2. 21 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 13 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 17 Jul
8. 21 Aug
9. 21 Sep
10. 27 Oct
11. 25 Nov
12. 20 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 35 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 17.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7.4% at D2, 1.9% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 33 weeks, Jul 18, 2000 to Feb 27, 2001.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 15 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 29 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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