Drought in Huron County, MI: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 4
2. 8
3. 15
4. 22
5. 7
6. 0
7. 0
8. 1
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 7
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 6
18. 0
19. 8
20. 5
21. 3
22. 33
23. 20
24. 8
25. 12
26. 29

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (15 wk), 2003 (22 wk), 2021 (33 wk), 2022 (20 wk) and 2025 (29 wk). Not a single drought week in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

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 MI

17th most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Chippewa County (2.3 in 10) and Berrien County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MI: Gogebic County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Newaygo County (0.8 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (22% of weeks), then Aug (22%) and Sep (20%). Least in Jun (4%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 14 Jan
2. 14 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 9 Apr
5. 6 May
6. 4 Jun
7. 17 Jul
8. 22 Aug
9. 20 Sep
10. 19 Oct
11. 22 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2021

2021: 33 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.7% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 33 weeks, Sep 24, 2002 to May 6, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 29 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 12 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Huron County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2021, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Huron County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.