Drought in Putnam County, IN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2011 (14 wk), 2012 (16 wk), 2023 (22 wk) and 2025 (18 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019 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 IN

24th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Carroll County (1.9 in 10) and Hendricks County (1.9 in 10). Driest in IN: LaGrange County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Floyd County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (21% of weeks), then Nov (20%) and Dec (16%). Least in Jun (5%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 9 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 7 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 6 May
6. 5 Jun
7. 10 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 14 Sep
10. 21 Oct
11. 20 Nov
12. 16 Dec

The worst year: 2023

2023: 22 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.4% at D2, 0.6% at D3, 6 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 20 weeks, Jan 4, 2000 to May 16, 2000.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 18 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 4 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Putnam County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2023, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Putnam County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.