Drought in Saint Joseph County, IN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 20
2. 0
3. 16
4. 19
5. 3
6. 27
7. 7
8. 1
9. 1
10. 0
11. 4
12. 0
13. 23
14. 5
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 3
21. 9
22. 5
23. 0
24. 7
25. 12
26. 5

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2002 (16 wk), 2003 (19 wk), 2005 (27 wk) and 2012 (23 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2022.

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 Dec turns dry.

Against the rest of IN

18th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Pulaski County (1.9 in 10) and LaPorte County (1.9 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 Dec (19% of weeks), then Nov (19%) and Jan (18%). Least in Aug (7%). May to September averages 10%.

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

The worst year: 2005

2005: 27 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.3% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 30 weeks, Oct 15, 2002 to May 6, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2012, 23 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 3.1 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 0 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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