Drought in Sabine Parish, LA: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Sabine Parish, LA: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 23
2. 0
3. 7
4. 5
5. 0
6. 10
7. 6
8. 0
9. 6
10. 0
11. 34
12. 52
13. 12
14. 6
15. 0
16. 12
17. 11
18. 7
19. 6
20. 0
21. 0
22. 6
23. 23
24. 24
25. 9
26. 12

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (23 wk), 2010 (34 wk), 2011 (52 wk), 2022 (23 wk) and 2023 (24 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2020.

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 LA

58th most drought-prone of 64 LA counties; the LA middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Caldwell Parish (1.9 in 10) and Vernon Parish (1.9 in 10). Driest in LA: Caddo Parish (4.6 in 10). Least drought: East Feliciana Parish (1.9 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (33% of weeks), then Jan (30%) and Nov (30%). Least in Apr (8%). May to September averages 20%.

1. 30 Jan
2. 20 Feb
3. 18 Mar
4. 8 Apr
5. 13 May
6. 17 Jun
7. 19 Jul
8. 24 Aug
9. 28 Sep
10. 33 Oct
11. 30 Nov
12. 27 Dec

The worst year: 2011

2011: 52 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 22.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 13.1% at D2, 6.4% at D3, 62 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 96 weeks, May 11, 2010 to Mar 6, 2012.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 24 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 38 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Sabine Parish lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2011, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Sabine Parish's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.