Drought in Monroe County, IL: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 10
2. 2
3. 1
4. 0
5. 0
6. 10
7. 12
8. 18
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 16
14. 6
15. 0
16. 3
17. 0
18. 27
19. 8
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 2
24. 18
25. 9
26. 8

20002025

Drought years: 2007 (18 wk), 2012 (16 wk), 2017 (27 wk) and 2023 (18 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2019, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of IL

69th most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Champaign County (1.5 in 10) and Pulaski County (1.5 in 10). Driest in IL: Hancock County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Edwards County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (23% of weeks), then Sep (19%) and Aug (17%). Least in Apr (3%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 11 Jan
2. 6 Feb
3. 6 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 5 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 17 Aug
9. 19 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 10 Dec

The worst year: 2017

2017: 27 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.9% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 30 weeks, Aug 1, 2017 to Feb 20, 2018.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 18 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 6 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, 2017, 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.