Drought in Kauai County, HI: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2010 (18 wk), 2022 (25 wk) and 2025 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 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 Mar turns dry.

Against the rest of HI

5th most drought-prone of 5 HI counties; the HI middle is 3.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Honolulu County (2.3 in 10). Driest in HI: Maui County (6 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Mar (14% of weeks), then Apr (10%) and Oct (9%). Least in Jun (4%). May to September averages 6%.

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

The worst year: 2022

2022: 25 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 7.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 0.2% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 18 weeks, Apr 18, 2000 to Aug 15, 2000.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 0 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Kauai County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2022, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Kauai County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.