Drought in San Juan Municipio, PR: 0.4 years in 10 since 2000

0.4 years in 10

San Juan Municipio, PR: 1 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2015 (26 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2024 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 Jul turns dry.

Against the rest of PR

41st most drought-prone of 78 PR counties; the PR middle is 0.4 in 10. Closest on the list: Rio Grande Municipio (0.4 in 10) and Lajas Municipio (0.4 in 10). Driest in PR: Salinas Municipio (2.7 in 10). Least drought: Mayaguez Municipio (0 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Jul (15% of weeks), then Sep (12%) and Aug (11%). Least in May (0%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 3 Jan
2. 3 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 0 Apr
5. 0 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 15 Jul
8. 11 Aug
9. 12 Sep
10. 8 Oct
11. 4 Nov
12. 4 Dec

The worst year: 2015

2015: 26 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 5.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 1.5% at D2, 0.6% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 33 weeks, Jul 7, 2015 to Feb 16, 2016.

Lately

Last drought year: 2015, 26 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 0.6 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 16 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

San Juan Municipio lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2015, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of San Juan Municipio's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.