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

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 7
2. 18
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 0
8. 17
9. 0
10. 0
11. 23
12. 12
13. 34
14. 2
15. 2
16. 9
17. 8
18. 0
19. 2
20. 3
21. 0
22. 0
23. 19
24. 6
25. 7
26. 10

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (18 wk), 2007 (17 wk), 2010 (23 wk), 2012 (34 wk) and 2022 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2017, 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 KY

5th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Carlisle County (1.9 in 10) and Harlan 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 Oct (25% of weeks), then Sep (23%) and Aug (19%). Least in Mar (5%). May to September averages 17%.

1. 11 Jan
2. 7 Feb
3. 5 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 17 Jun
7. 18 Jul
8. 19 Aug
9. 23 Sep
10. 25 Oct
11. 17 Nov
12. 11 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 34 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7.1% at D2, 2.5% at D3, 7 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 36 weeks, May 8, 2012 to Jan 8, 2013.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 18 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Hickman County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2012, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Hickman County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.