Drought in Scott County, IN: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

Scott County, IN: 3 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

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

20002025

Drought years: 2007 (20 wk), 2012 (14 wk) and 2023 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 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 Sep turns dry.

Against the rest of IN

58th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Randolph County (1.2 in 10) and Jackson County (1.2 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 Sep (22% of weeks), then Oct (18%) and Nov (14%). Least in Feb (0%). May to September averages 11%.

1. 3 Jan
2. 0 Feb
3. 1 Mar
4. 2 Apr
5. 4 May
6. 6 Jun
7. 10 Jul
8. 11 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 18 Oct
11. 14 Nov
12. 9 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8.4% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.5% at D2, 0.9% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 20 weeks, Jun 12, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 1 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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