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

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2003 (18 wk), 2007 (21 wk), 2021 (13 wk), 2023 (24 wk) and 2024 (23 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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

23rd most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Kalamazoo County (1.9 in 10) and Iosco 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 Oct (13% of weeks), then Feb (13%) and Jan (13%). Least in Apr (5%). May to September averages 8%.

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

The worst year: 2023

2023: 24 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 25 weeks, Oct 8, 2024 to Mar 25, 2025.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 23 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 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

Manistee County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2023, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Manistee County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.