Drought in Marion County, KY: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2007 (21 wk), 2008 (19 wk), 2022 (13 wk) and 2023 (17 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 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 KY

31st most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Laurel County (1.5 in 10) and Taylor County (1.5 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (25% of weeks), then Sep (22%) and Oct (16%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 12 Jan
2. 5 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 11 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 7 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 16 Oct
11. 25 Nov
12. 15 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 21 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.5% at D2, 0.5% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 21 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 17 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 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

Marion County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2007, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Marion County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.