Drought in Pendleton County, WV: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

Pendleton County, WV: 4 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (23 wk), 2009 (14 wk), 2024 (26 wk) and 2025 (22 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2012, 2014, 2015, 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 Dec turns dry.

Against the rest of WV

11th most drought-prone of 55 WV counties; the WV middle is 0.8 in 10. Closest on the list: Monroe County (1.5 in 10) and Mineral County (1.5 in 10). Driest in WV: Mercer County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Hancock County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Dec (17% of weeks), then Jan (14%) and Feb (14%). Least in Aug (4%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 14 Jan
2. 14 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 9 Apr
5. 12 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 4 Aug
9. 12 Sep
10. 11 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2024

2024: 26 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.8% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.9% at D2, 0.7% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 25 weeks, Jun 25, 2024 to Dec 10, 2024.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 22 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 22 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Pendleton County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2024, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Pendleton County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.