Drought in Union County, IL: 1.2 years in 10 since 2000

1.2 years in 10

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

1. 3
2. 13
3. 7
4. 1
5. 0
6. 6
7. 0
8. 11
9. 0
10. 0
11. 7
12. 0
13. 33
14. 2
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 5
19. 0
20. 3
21. 0
22. 0
23. 14
24. 10
25. 12
26. 3

20002025

Drought years: 2001 (13 wk), 2012 (33 wk) and 2022 (14 wk). Not a single drought week in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 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 Oct turns dry.

Against the rest of IL

80th most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Clinton County (1.5 in 10) and Iroquois County (1.2 in 10). Driest in IL: Hancock County (3.8 in 10). Least drought: Edwards County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (18% of weeks), then Sep (16%) and Jul (14%). Least in Feb (1%). May to September averages 14%.

1. 6 Jan
2. 1 Feb
3. 5 Mar
4. 10 Apr
5. 13 May
6. 14 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 10 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 18 Oct
11. 13 Nov
12. 10 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 33 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.9% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3.1% at D2, 0.8% at D3, 6 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 35 weeks, May 15, 2012 to Jan 8, 2013.

Lately

Last drought year: 2022, 14 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 23 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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