Drought in Monroe County, FL: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 1
2. 21
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 3
8. 5
9. 12
10. 15
11. 0
12. 35
13. 11
14. 8
15. 3
16. 26
17. 0
18. 8
19. 7
20. 3
21. 9
22. 9
23. 0
24. 9
25. 0
26. 23

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (21 wk), 2009 (15 wk), 2011 (35 wk), 2015 (26 wk) and 2025 (23 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2010, 2016, 2022 and 2024.

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 Apr turns dry.

Against the rest of FL

67th most drought-prone of 67 FL counties; the FL middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Broward County (2.3 in 10). Driest in FL: Leon County (4.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Apr (43% of weeks), then May (40%) and Mar (34%). Least in Nov (1%). May to September averages 20%.

1. 12 Jan
2. 18 Feb
3. 34 Mar
4. 43 Apr
5. 40 May
6. 25 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 8 Sep
10. 3 Oct
11. 1 Nov
12. 4 Dec

The worst year: 2011

2011: 35 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 18% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7.5% at D2, 1.1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 48 weeks, Dec 9, 2025 to Nov 3, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 23 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 44 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Monroe County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2011, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Monroe County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.