Drought in Texas County, MO: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 17
2. 5
3. 0
4. 0
5. 1
6. 12
7. 11
8. 0
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 31
14. 8
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 13
19. 13
20. 0
21. 2
22. 0
23. 8
24. 5
25. 8
26. 8

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (17 wk), 2012 (31 wk), 2017 (13 wk) and 2018 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 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

112th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Dent County (1.5 in 10) and Sainte Genevieve County (1.5 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 (25% of weeks), then Aug (17%) and Sep (16%). Least in Mar (3%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 15 Jan
2. 10 Feb
3. 3 Mar
4. 3 Apr
5. 9 May
6. 10 Jun
7. 12 Jul
8. 17 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 25 Oct
11. 9 Nov
12. 10 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 31 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.9% at D2, 1% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 39 weeks, May 29, 2012 to Feb 19, 2013.

Lately

Last drought year: 2018, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 21 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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