Drought in Tippecanoe County, IN: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (24 wk), 2012 (17 wk), 2023 (16 wk) and 2024 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 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 Jul turns dry.

Against the rest of IN

47th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Warren County (1.5 in 10) and Henry County (1.5 in 10). Driest in IN: LaGrange County (3.5 in 10). Least drought: Floyd County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Jul (12% of weeks), then Dec (11%) and Feb (11%). Least in Aug (4%). May to September averages 8%.

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

The worst year: 2000

2000: 24 weeks in drought, peaking at D2 severe. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.5% at D2, 0.4% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 24 weeks, Jan 4, 2000 to Jun 13, 2000.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 14 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Tippecanoe County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2000, was one of the worst nationally too; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Tippecanoe County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.