Drought in Lake County, MI: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Lake County, MI: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2003 (26 wk), 2024 (14 wk) and 2025 (22 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of MI

68th most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Clare County (1.2 in 10) and Livingston County (1.2 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 Oct (16% of weeks), then Nov (12%) and Mar (11%). Least in Jul (3%). May to September averages 5%.

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

The worst year: 2003

2003: 26 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 0.8% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 18 weeks, Jan 7, 2003 to May 6, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 22 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 3 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Lake County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2003, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Lake County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.