Drought in Stoddard County, MO: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000
1.9 years in 10
Stoddard County, MO: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.
- 13
- 15
- 0
- 0
- 2
- 6
- 0
- 12
- 0
- 0
- 26
- 8
- 32
- 3
- 0
- 0
- 6
- 10
- 10
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 20
- 11
- 12
- 10
20002025
Drought years: 2000 (13 wk), 2001 (15 wk), 2010 (26 wk), 2012 (32 wk) and 2022 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 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 Oct turns dry.
Against the rest of MO
94th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Reynolds County (2.3 in 10) and Webster County (1.9 in 10). Driest in MO: Jasper County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Perry County (1.2 in 10).
When in the year it hits
Most often in Oct (23% of weeks), then Sep (22%) and Jul (20%). Least in Mar (4%). May to September averages 18%.
- 16 Jan
- 10 Feb
- 4 Mar
- 10 Apr
- 13 May
- 17 Jun
- 20 Jul
- 18 Aug
- 22 Sep
- 23 Oct
- 20 Nov
- 19 Dec
The worst year: 2012
2012: 32 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 16% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 6.1% at D2, 1.5% at D3, 6 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 35 weeks, May 22, 2012 to Jan 15, 2013.
Lately
Last drought year: 2022, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 28 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.
Further reading
Stoddard County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2012, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Stoddard County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.