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

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 34
2. 7
3. 2
4. 0
5. 0
6. 8
7. 3
8. 42
9. 40
10. 0
11. 0
12. 1
13. 5
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 17
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 2
24. 11
25. 13
26. 3

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (34 wk), 2007 (42 wk), 2008 (40 wk), 2016 (17 wk) and 2024 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 TN

77th most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Houston County (1.9 in 10) and Overton County (1.9 in 10). Driest in TN: Bradley County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Robertson County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Nov (29% of weeks), then Dec (20%) and Sep (19%). Least in Mar (6%). May to September averages 15%.

1. 13 Jan
2. 11 Feb
3. 6 Mar
4. 9 Apr
5. 16 May
6. 13 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 12 Aug
9. 19 Sep
10. 18 Oct
11. 29 Nov
12. 20 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 42 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 14.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.4% at D2, 1.9% at D3, 8 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 54 weeks, Apr 3, 2007 to Apr 8, 2008.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 21 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, 2007, 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.