Drought in Lewis County, TN: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 37
2. 11
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 7
7. 0
8. 35
9. 8
10. 0
11. 6
12. 1
13. 6
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 13
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 10
24. 11
25. 28
26. 4

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (37 wk), 2007 (35 wk), 2016 (13 wk) and 2024 (28 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of TN

87th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Dickson County (1.5 in 10) and Clay County (1.5 in 10). Driest in TN: Bradley County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Robertson County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (29% of weeks), then Oct (23%) and Jan (15%). Least in Apr (7%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 15 Jan
2. 15 Feb
3. 13 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 11 May
6. 9 Jun
7. 15 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 15 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 29 Nov
12. 15 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 37 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.7% at D2, 3% at D3, 12 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 35 weeks, Mar 27, 2007 to Nov 20, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 28 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 26 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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