Drought in Pawnee County, NE: 4.6 years in 10 since 2000

4.6 years in 10

Pawnee County, NE: 12 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. More drought-prone than most US counties.

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (45 wk), 2002 (27 wk), 2003 (46 wk), 2006 (14 wk), 2012 (30 wk), 2013 (18 wk), 2014 (15 wk), 2020 (14 wk), 2022 (31 wk), 2023 (22 wk), 2024 (21 wk) and 2025 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016 and 2019.

Plan for drought as normal: shrink the lawn, go drip and natives

Drought is the normal state of things here. Most of the yard goes to natives and gravel on drip; any grass that stays is a small, tough patch.

If you are replacing turf, plant natives in fall so roots set before the Jan peak, and check your water utility for a turf-removal rebate before you dig.

Against the rest of NE

64th most drought-prone of 93 NE counties; the NE middle is 5 in 10. Closest on the list: Gage County (4.6 in 10) and Nemaha County (4.6 in 10). Driest in NE: Banner County (6.5 in 10). Least drought: Cuming County (2.7 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Jan (32% of weeks), then Feb (31%) and Nov (30%). Least in Jun (15%). May to September averages 19%.

32 Jan
31 Feb
26 Mar
28 Apr
19 May
15 Jun
16 Jul
18 Aug
27 Sep
28 Oct
30 Nov
28 Dec

The worst year: 2003

2003: 46 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 24.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 8.1% at D2, 1.7% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 50 weeks, Jul 2, 2002 to Jun 10, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 5 in 10, against 4.4 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 2 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.