Drought in Howard County, IN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (21 wk), 2012 (17 wk), 2023 (16 wk), 2024 (14 wk) and 2025 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

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 IN

31st most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Tipton County (1.9 in 10) and Hancock County (1.9 in 10). Driest in IN: LaGrange County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Floyd County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (15% of weeks), then Dec (12%) and Mar (10%). Least in May (5%). May to September averages 7%.

1. 9 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 10 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 5 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 9 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 8 Sep
10. 9 Oct
11. 15 Nov
12. 12 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 21 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.4% at D2, 1.9% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Sep 16, 2025 to Mar 31, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 13 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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