Drought in Randolph County, IN: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Randolph County, IN: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (19 wk), 2012 (16 wk) and 2025 (16 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of IN

57th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Jennings County (1.2 in 10) and Scott County (1.2 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 Nov (15% of weeks), then Oct (15%) and Jan (13%). Least in May (3%). May to September averages 7%.

1. 13 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 4 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 3 May
6. 4 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 6 Aug
9. 12 Sep
10. 15 Oct
11. 15 Nov
12. 11 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 19 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.7% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 25 weeks, Sep 16, 2025 to Mar 3, 2026.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 16 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 9 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, 2000, 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.