Drought in Osage County, MO: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 12
2. 0
3. 0
4. 3
5. 0
6. 10
7. 24
8. 5
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 28
14. 9
15. 3
16. 5
17. 0
18. 11
19. 8
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 5
24. 34
25. 15
26. 14

20002025

Drought years: 2006 (24 wk), 2012 (28 wk), 2023 (34 wk), 2024 (15 wk) and 2025 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 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 MO

97th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Mississippi County (1.9 in 10) and Gasconade County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MO: Jasper County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Perry County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (22% of weeks), then Aug (19%) and Jan (19%). Least in Apr (7%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 19 Jan
2. 16 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 13 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 19 Aug
9. 15 Sep
10. 22 Oct
11. 16 Nov
12. 9 Dec

The worst year: 2023

2023: 34 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.8% at D2, 0.9% at D3, 2 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 44 weeks, May 9, 2023 to Mar 5, 2024.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 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

Osage County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2023, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Osage County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.