Drought in Perry County, MO: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2012 (20 wk), 2017 (18 wk) and 2024 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of MO

115th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Cape Girardeau County (1.5 in 10). Driest in MO: Jasper County (4.6 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (15% of weeks), then Jan (14%) and Jun (14%). Least in Feb (7%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 14 Jan
2. 7 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 8 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 14 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 14 Sep
10. 15 Oct
11. 11 Nov
12. 11 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.8% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.9% at D2, 0.4% at D3, 6 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 20 weeks, Jun 5, 2012 to Oct 16, 2012.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 16 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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