Drought in Owsley County, KY: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2005 (16 wk), 2007 (34 wk) and 2008 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

62nd most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Larue County (1.2 in 10) and Adair County (1.2 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (24% of weeks), then Dec (18%) and Oct (16%). Least in Mar (3%). May to September averages 10%.

1. 8 Jan
2. 5 Feb
3. 3 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 11 Jun
7. 7 Jul
8. 6 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 16 Oct
11. 24 Nov
12. 18 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 34 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.8% at D2, 1.2% at D3, 7 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 30 weeks, May 22, 2007 to Dec 11, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 11 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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