Drought in Outagamie County, WI: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Outagamie County, WI: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2008 (15 wk), 2009 (14 wk) and 2023 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

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 Aug turns dry.

Against the rest of WI

67th most drought-prone of 72 WI counties; the WI middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Shawano County (1.2 in 10) and Manitowoc County (0.8 in 10). Driest in WI: Barron County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Fond du Lac County (0.8 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Aug (17% of weeks), then Oct (13%) and Sep (12%). Least in Jun (4%). May to September averages 9%.

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

The worst year: 2023

2023: 19 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 0.4% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 23 weeks, Sep 23, 2008 to Feb 24, 2009.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 5 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Outagamie 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 Outagamie County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.