Drought in Pulaski County, MO: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 15
2. 0
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 8
7. 22
8. 0
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 28
14. 8
15. 0
16. 1
17. 3
18. 7
19. 12
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 10
24. 28
25. 14
26. 11

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (15 wk), 2006 (22 wk), 2012 (28 wk), 2023 (28 wk) and 2024 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 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

99th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Gasconade County (1.9 in 10) and Crawford County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MO: Jasper County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Perry County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (23% of weeks), then Aug (22%) and Sep (19%). Least in May (6%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 18 Jan
2. 12 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 8 Apr
5. 6 May
6. 9 Jun
7. 16 Jul
8. 22 Aug
9. 19 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 9 Nov
12. 7 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.3% at D2, 1.1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 38 weeks, Jun 20, 2023 to Mar 5, 2024.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 17 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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