Drought in Pennington County, MN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 11
2. 0
3. 1
4. 11
5. 1
6. 0
7. 26
8. 16
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 41
14. 21
15. 0
16. 11
17. 0
18. 8
19. 3
20. 0
21. 3
22. 39
23. 11
24. 12
25. 4
26. 1

20002025

Drought years: 2006 (26 wk), 2007 (16 wk), 2012 (41 wk), 2013 (21 wk) and 2021 (39 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2016 and 2019.

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 MN

87th most drought-prone of 87 MN counties; the MN middle is 3.8 in 10. Closest on the list: Winona County (2.7 in 10). Driest in MN: Wadena County (5 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Aug (24% of weeks), then Mar (23%) and Sep (21%). Least in Jun (8%). May to September averages 15%.

1. 13 Jan
2. 19 Feb
3. 23 Mar
4. 19 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 24 Aug
9. 21 Sep
10. 19 Oct
11. 15 Nov
12. 11 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 41 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 16.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7.1% at D2, 3.1% at D3, 6 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 52 weeks, May 22, 2012 to May 14, 2013.

Lately

Last drought year: 2021, 39 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 6 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Pennington County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2012, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Pennington County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.