Drought in Scott County, KY: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2005 (16 wk), 2007 (21 wk), 2008 (15 wk) and 2010 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2021.

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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of KY

46th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Lawrence County (1.5 in 10) and Breckinridge County (1.5 in 10). Driest in KY: Calloway County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Grant County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (22% of weeks), then Oct (15%) and Sep (14%). Least in Mar (1%). May to September averages 10%.

1. 8 Jan
2. 3 Feb
3. 1 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 7 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 11 Jul
8. 9 Aug
9. 14 Sep
10. 15 Oct
11. 22 Nov
12. 12 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 21 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.7% at D2, 0.6% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 21 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2010, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 6 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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