Drought in Montgomery County, TN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000
1.9 years in 10
Montgomery County, TN: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.
- 23
- 14
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 8
- 3
- 23
- 11
- 0
- 11
- 8
- 16
- 0
- 0
- 5
- 8
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 14
- 2
- 8
- 9
20002025
Drought years: 2000 (23 wk), 2001 (14 wk), 2007 (23 wk), 2012 (16 wk) and 2022 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 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 TN
82nd most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Fentress County (1.9 in 10) and Chester County (1.5 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 Oct (21% of weeks), then Sep (21%) and Nov (21%). Least in Mar (2%). May to September averages 14%.
- 18 Jan
- 12 Feb
- 2 Mar
- 3 Apr
- 9 May
- 13 Jun
- 15 Jul
- 13 Aug
- 21 Sep
- 21 Oct
- 21 Nov
- 17 Dec
The worst year: 2007
2007: 23 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.1% at D2, 1.4% at D3, 7 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 23 weeks, May 22, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.
Lately
Last drought year: 2022, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 28 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.
Further reading
Montgomery County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2007, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Montgomery County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.