Drought in Summers County, WV: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (13 wk), 2002 (22 wk), 2007 (19 wk) and 2024 (21 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023.

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 WV

13th most drought-prone of 55 WV counties; the WV middle is 0.8 in 10. Closest on the list: Mineral County (1.5 in 10) and Wayne County (1.5 in 10). Driest in WV: Mercer County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Hancock County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (24% of weeks), then Nov (21%) and Dec (14%). Least in Mar (3%). May to September averages 8%.

1. 10 Jan
2. 5 Feb
3. 3 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 6 May
6. 5 Jun
7. 8 Jul
8. 6 Aug
9. 13 Sep
10. 24 Oct
11. 21 Nov
12. 14 Dec

The worst year: 2002

2002: 22 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.9% at D2, 0.2% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 23 weeks, Nov 13, 2001 to Apr 16, 2002.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 21 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 14 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Summers County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2002, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Summers County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.