Drought in Henrico County, VA: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 0
2. 9
3. 45
4. 0
5. 0
6. 4
7. 8
8. 20
9. 18
10. 0
11. 13
12. 7
13. 0
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 4
21. 0
22. 1
23. 1
24. 0
25. 11
26. 5

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (45 wk), 2007 (20 wk), 2008 (18 wk) and 2010 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020 and 2023.

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 Jul turns dry.

Against the rest of VA

117th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: New Kent County (1.5 in 10) and King William County (1.5 in 10). Driest in VA: Halifax County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Covington City (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Jul (16% of weeks), then Apr (14%) and Aug (13%). Least in May (8%). May to September averages 12%.

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

The worst year: 2002

2002: 45 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5% at D2, 1.3% at D3, 4 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 54 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Nov 5, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2010, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 16 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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