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

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 0
2. 8
3. 44
4. 0
5. 0
6. 3
7. 5
8. 16
9. 0
10. 4
11. 2
12. 2
13. 4
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 7
18. 22
19. 6
20. 5
21. 0
22. 0
23. 3
24. 18
25. 11
26. 24

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (44 wk), 2007 (16 wk), 2017 (22 wk), 2023 (18 wk) and 2025 (24 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 Apr turns dry.

Against the rest of MD

14th most drought-prone of 24 MD counties; the MD middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Worcester County (1.9 in 10) and Charles County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MD: Wicomico County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Garrett County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Apr (21% of weeks), then Jul (20%) and Dec (20%). Least in Sep (7%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 19 Jan
2. 16 Feb
3. 18 Mar
4. 21 Apr
5. 14 May
6. 13 Jun
7. 20 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 7 Sep
10. 12 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 20 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 44 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.9% at D2, 1.1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 50 weeks, Nov 20, 2001 to Oct 29, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 24 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 32 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, 2002, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Howard County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.