Drought in Simpson County, KY: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (21 wk), 2007 (21 wk) and 2008 (19 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 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

56th most drought-prone of 120 KY counties; the KY middle is 1.2 in 10. Closest on the list: Breathitt County (1.2 in 10) and Muhlenberg County (1.2 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 Sep (22%) and Oct (17%). Least in Mar (1%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 8 Jan
2. 5 Feb
3. 1 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 11 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 22 Sep
10. 17 Oct
11. 22 Nov
12. 12 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 21 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.2% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.3% at D2, 1.1% at D3, 3 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 21 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Oct 23, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 19 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 23 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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