Drought in Pike County, KY: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 11
2. 15
3. 15
4. 0
5. 0
6. 12
7. 4
8. 32
9. 30
10. 1
11. 0
12. 0
13. 0
14. 0
15. 0
16. 2
17. 5
18. 0
19. 0
20. 5
21. 0
22. 0
23. 1
24. 0
25. 3
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (15 wk), 2002 (15 wk), 2007 (32 wk) and 2008 (30 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023 and 2025.

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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

40th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Green County (1.5 in 10) and Lincoln County (1.5 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (19% of weeks), then Dec (17%) and Oct (15%). Least in Jul (4%). May to September averages 8%.

1. 14 Jan
2. 14 Feb
3. 5 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 7 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 4 Jul
8. 6 Aug
9. 14 Sep
10. 15 Oct
11. 19 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 32 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4% at D2, 0.8% at D3, 4 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 38 weeks, Jun 19, 2007 to Mar 4, 2008.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 30 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 11 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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