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

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (17 wk), 2003 (15 wk), 2021 (15 wk), 2023 (15 wk) and 2024 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 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 MI

26th most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Barry County (1.9 in 10) and Alpena County (1.9 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 Nov (15% of weeks), then Jul (13%) and Jun (13%). Least in May (3%). May to September averages 8%.

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

The worst year: 2002

2002: 17 weeks in drought, peaking at D1 moderate. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.2% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 0.4% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 24 weeks, Oct 22, 2002 to Apr 1, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 0 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, 2002, 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.