Drought in Passaic County, NJ: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 0
2. 10
3. 29
4. 0
5. 0
6. 4
7. 0
8. 0
9. 0
10. 0
11. 5
12. 0
13. 6
14. 8
15. 0
16. 2
17. 20
18. 13
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 18
24. 3
25. 10
26. 38

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (29 wk), 2016 (20 wk), 2017 (13 wk), 2022 (18 wk) and 2025 (38 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 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 Dec turns dry.

Drought has been more common in 2016-2025 (4 years in 10) than in 2000-2015 (0.6 in 10).

Against the rest of NJ

1st most drought-prone of 21 NJ counties; the NJ middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Bergen County (1.5 in 10). Least drought: Monmouth County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Dec (23% of weeks), then Nov (22%) and Sep (16%). Least in Jul (6%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 15 Jan
2. 15 Feb
3. 13 Mar
4. 15 Apr
5. 12 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 6 Jul
8. 6 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 13 Oct
11. 22 Nov
12. 23 Dec

The worst year: 2025

2025: 38 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4% at D2, 0.5% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 32 weeks, Aug 19, 2025 to Mar 24, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 38 weeks. 2016-2025: 4 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, drier lately. So far in 2026: 22 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Passaic County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran drier than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Passaic County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.