Drought in Tipton County, IN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000
1.9 years in 10
Tipton County, IN: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.
- 20
- 2
- 1
- 2
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 6
- 0
- 0
- 7
- 0
- 16
- 1
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 0
- 1
- 9
- 14
- 14
- 20
20002025
Drought years: 2000 (20 wk), 2012 (16 wk), 2023 (14 wk), 2024 (14 wk) and 2025 (20 wk). Not a single drought week in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
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 IN
30th most drought-prone of 92 IN counties; the IN middle is 1.5 in 10. Closest on the list: Hamilton County (1.9 in 10) and Howard County (1.9 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 Nov (17% of weeks), then Oct (13%) and Dec (12%). Least in May (4%). May to September averages 7%.
- 9 Jan
- 8 Feb
- 10 Mar
- 6 Apr
- 4 May
- 6 Jun
- 9 Jul
- 7 Aug
- 9 Sep
- 13 Oct
- 17 Nov
- 12 Dec
The worst year: 2025
2025: 20 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 9.1% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.2% at D2, 0.9% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 29 weeks, Sep 16, 2025 to Mar 31, 2026.
Lately
Last drought year: 2025, 20 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 15 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.
Further reading
Tipton County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2025, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of Tipton County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.