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

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (30 wk), 2001 (14 wk), 2007 (24 wk), 2012 (17 wk) and 2022 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of TN

76th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Perry County (1.9 in 10) and Smith 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 Nov (26% of weeks), then Oct (24%) and Sep (24%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 15%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 13 Feb
3. 5 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 10 May
6. 13 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 14 Aug
9. 24 Sep
10. 24 Oct
11. 26 Nov
12. 18 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 30 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.2% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.1% at D2, 1.3% at D3, 7 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 24 weeks, May 15, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 30 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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