Drought in Hickman County, TN: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 37
2. 11
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 7
7. 2
8. 32
9. 7
10. 0
11. 9
12. 6
13. 6
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 10
18. 0
19. 0
20. 2
21. 0
22. 0
23. 15
24. 11
25. 30
26. 5

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (37 wk), 2007 (32 wk), 2022 (15 wk) and 2024 (30 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of TN

85th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Davidson County (1.5 in 10) and Dickson County (1.5 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 Nov (29% of weeks), then Oct (23%) and Jan (20%). Least in Apr (5%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 20 Jan
2. 16 Feb
3. 7 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 17 Jul
8. 14 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 29 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 37 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.2% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.9% at D2, 3.1% at D3, 8 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 32 weeks, Jul 11, 2000 to Feb 13, 2001.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 30 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 23 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, 2000, 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.