Drought in McNairy County, TN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 36
2. 7
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 3
7. 6
8. 32
9. 0
10. 0
11. 6
12. 3
13. 24
14. 0
15. 1
16. 2
17. 12
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 2
22. 6
23. 17
24. 12
25. 16
26. 11

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (36 wk), 2007 (32 wk), 2012 (24 wk), 2022 (17 wk) and 2024 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

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

74th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Henderson County (1.9 in 10) and Perry County (1.9 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 (26% of weeks), then Oct (26%) and Sep (22%). Least in Jun (6%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 15 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 6 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 21 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 26 Oct
11. 26 Nov
12. 16 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 36 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7.1% at D2, 2.7% at D3, 11 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 32 weeks, Mar 20, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 20 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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