Drought in Portsmouth City, VA: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Portsmouth City, VA: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (41 wk), 2007 (25 wk) and 2008 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 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 VA

130th most drought-prone of 133 VA counties; the VA middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Norfolk City (1.2 in 10) and Williamsburg City (1.2 in 10). Driest in VA: Halifax County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Covington City (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Dec (16% of weeks), then Nov (14%) and Jan (14%). Least in Mar (8%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 14 Jan
2. 14 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 14 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 12 Jun
7. 10 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 11 Sep
10. 12 Oct
11. 14 Nov
12. 16 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 41 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.4% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 50 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Oct 8, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 25 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Portsmouth City lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2002, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Portsmouth City's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.