Drought in Sumner County, TN: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

1. 27
2. 7
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 8
7. 4
8. 30
9. 27
10. 0
11. 5
12. 1
13. 6
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 9
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 8
24. 11
25. 8
26. 7

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (27 wk), 2007 (30 wk) and 2008 (27 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 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

93rd most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Trousdale County (1.2 in 10) and Macon County (1.2 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 (32% of weeks), then Oct (21%) and Sep (20%). Least in Mar (0%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 13 Jan
2. 7 Feb
3. 0 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 13 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 20 Sep
10. 21 Oct
11. 32 Nov
12. 17 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 30 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 12.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.9% at D2, 1.3% at D3, 8 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 30 weeks, May 22, 2007 to Dec 11, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2008, 27 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

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