Drought in Midland County, MI: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 4
2. 1
3. 15
4. 22
5. 3
6. 0
7. 0
8. 2
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 0
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 6
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 12
23. 9
24. 13
25. 12
26. 52

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (15 wk), 2003 (22 wk), 2023 (13 wk) and 2025 (52 wk). Not a single drought week in 2005, 2006, 2008, 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 Dec turns dry.

Against the rest of MI

32nd most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Baraga County (1.5 in 10) and Bay County (1.5 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 Dec (14% of weeks), then Oct (13%) and Apr (12%). Least in Mar (7%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 12 Jan
2. 10 Feb
3. 7 Mar
4. 12 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 12 Jul
8. 12 Aug
9. 10 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 12 Nov
12. 14 Dec

The worst year: 2025

2025: 52 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.5% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 65 weeks, Oct 15, 2024 to Jan 6, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 52 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 3 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Midland County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2025, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Midland County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.