Drought in Rankin County, MS: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 33
2. 0
3. 1
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 15
8. 25
9. 0
10. 0
11. 10
12. 9
13. 0
14. 1
15. 0
16. 12
17. 21
18. 6
19. 6
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 1
24. 19
25. 6
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (33 wk), 2006 (15 wk), 2007 (25 wk), 2016 (21 wk) and 2023 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2014, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2025.

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 MS

81st most drought-prone of 82 MS counties; the MS middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Simpson County (1.9 in 10) and Benton County (1.5 in 10). Driest in MS: Tallahatchie County (4.2 in 10). Least drought: Benton County (1.5 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (24% of weeks), then Sep (21%) and Aug (18%). Least in Feb (7%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 13 Jan
2. 7 Feb
3. 12 Mar
4. 8 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 15 Jul
8. 18 Aug
9. 21 Sep
10. 24 Oct
11. 17 Nov
12. 11 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 33 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7% at D2, 2.9% at D3, 20 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 25 weeks, Aug 22, 2023 to Feb 6, 2024.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 27 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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