Drought in Russell County, KY: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

Russell County, KY: 4 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 14
2. 6
3. 2
4. 0
5. 0
6. 13
7. 5
8. 30
9. 20
10. 1
11. 0
12. 4
13. 4
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 9
18. 0
19. 0
20. 4
21. 0
22. 0
23. 11
24. 11
25. 5
26. 3

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (14 wk), 2005 (13 wk), 2007 (30 wk) and 2008 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 KY

35th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Pulaski County (1.5 in 10) and Fayette County (1.5 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (27% of weeks), then Oct (18%) and Dec (17%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 12 Jan
2. 6 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 12 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 12 Sep
10. 18 Oct
11. 27 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 30 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.3% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.3% at D2, 1.6% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 28 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Dec 11, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 16 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Russell County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Russell County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.