Drought in Sanilac County, MI: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2002 (15 wk), 2003 (22 wk), 2021 (16 wk) and 2025 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

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 MI

40th most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Saginaw County (1.5 in 10) and Ottawa County (1.5 in 10). Driest in MI: Gogebic County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Newaygo County (0.8 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Jul (16% of weeks), then Aug (14%) and Dec (12%). Least in May (4%). May to September averages 9%.

1. 11 Jan
2. 11 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 9 Apr
5. 4 May
6. 4 Jun
7. 16 Jul
8. 14 Aug
9. 9 Sep
10. 6 Oct
11. 10 Nov
12. 12 Dec

The worst year: 2003

2003: 22 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 0.6% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 33 weeks, Sep 24, 2002 to May 6, 2003.

Lately

Last drought year: 2025, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 0 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Sanilac County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2003, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Sanilac County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.