Drought in Queen Anne's County, MD: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

Queen Anne's County, MD: 4 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (46 wk), 2007 (14 wk), 2012 (27 wk) and 2025 (21 wk). Not a single drought week in 2000, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022.

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 MD

20th most drought-prone of 24 MD counties; the MD middle is 1.9 in 10. Closest on the list: Harford County (1.5 in 10) and Kent County (1.5 in 10). Driest in MD: Wicomico County (3.1 in 10). Least drought: Garrett County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (18% of weeks), then Apr (17%) and May (16%). Least in Dec (8%). May to September averages 14%.

9 Jan
8 Feb
9 Mar
17 Apr
16 May
13 Jun
14 Jul
13 Aug
14 Sep
18 Oct
9 Nov
8 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 46 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 12.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.9% at D2, 1.6% at D3, 2 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 55 weeks, Oct 30, 2001 to Nov 12, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 21 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 19 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.