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

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 21
2. 8
3. 2
4. 0
5. 0
6. 15
7. 4
8. 38
9. 30
10. 1
11. 0
12. 0
13. 3
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 9
18. 0
19. 0
20. 4
21. 0
22. 0
23. 8
24. 11
25. 10
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (21 wk), 2005 (15 wk), 2007 (38 wk) and 2008 (30 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2025.

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

20th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Whitley County (1.5 in 10) and Perry 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 (32% of weeks), then Dec (22%) and Oct (19%). Least in Mar (4%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 17 Jan
2. 11 Feb
3. 4 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 12 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 6 Aug
9. 12 Sep
10. 19 Oct
11. 32 Nov
12. 22 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 38 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.9% at D2, 2.1% at D3, 8 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 42 weeks, May 22, 2007 to Mar 4, 2008.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 30 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 18 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

McCreary County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of McCreary County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.