Drought in Smith County, MS: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Smith County, MS: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 41
2. 0
3. 3
4. 0
5. 0
6. 0
7. 19
8. 28
9. 3
10. 0
11. 8
12. 16
13. 0
14. 1
15. 1
16. 12
17. 12
18. 6
19. 6
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 0
24. 18
25. 4
26. 0

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (41 wk), 2006 (19 wk), 2007 (28 wk), 2011 (16 wk) and 2023 (18 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2009, 2012, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 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 MS

78th most drought-prone of 82 MS counties; the MS middle is 2.7 in 10. Closest on the list: Clarke County (1.9 in 10) and Tippah County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MS: Tallahatchie County (4.2 in 10). Least drought: Benton County (1.5 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (23% of weeks), then Sep (21%) and Nov (18%). Least in Mar (8%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 17 Jan
2. 9 Feb
3. 8 Mar
4. 8 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 12 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 16 Aug
9. 21 Sep
10. 23 Oct
11. 18 Nov
12. 15 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 41 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 13.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 5.5% at D2, 2.6% at D3, 14 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 28 weeks, Jun 13, 2000 to Dec 19, 2000.

Lately

Last drought year: 2023, 18 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 17 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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