Drought in Randolph County, IL: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2007 (17 wk), 2012 (17 wk), 2017 (16 wk), 2023 (14 wk) and 2024 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 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 IL

58th most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Moultrie County (1.9 in 10) and Massac County (1.9 in 10). Driest in IL: Hancock County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Edwards County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (17% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Jan (13%). Least in Apr (5%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 13 Jan
2. 7 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 5 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 12 Jul
8. 12 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 17 Oct
11. 10 Nov
12. 12 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 17 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.2% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 17 weeks, Aug 14, 2007 to Dec 4, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 13 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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