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

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2005 (17 wk), 2007 (24 wk), 2010 (14 wk) and 2024 (23 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of MI

55th most drought-prone of 83 MI counties; the MI middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Leelanau County (1.5 in 10) and Saint Clair 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 Oct (14% of weeks), then Jun (12%) and Apr (10%). Least in Dec (2%). May to September averages 9%.

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

The worst year: 2007

2007: 24 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 7.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.2% at D2, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 17 weeks, Jun 14, 2005 to Oct 4, 2005.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 23 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 5 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Schoolcraft County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2007, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Schoolcraft County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.