Drought in Wayne County, TN: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

Wayne County, TN: 5 of 26 full years had 13+ weeks in drought. Less drought-prone than most US counties.

1. 38
2. 7
3. 0
4. 0
5. 0
6. 2
7. 6
8. 37
9. 5
10. 0
11. 6
12. 3
13. 6
14. 0
15. 1
16. 0
17. 14
18. 0
19. 2
20. 0
21. 0
22. 0
23. 14
24. 12
25. 24
26. 11

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (38 wk), 2007 (37 wk), 2016 (14 wk), 2022 (14 wk) and 2024 (24 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 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

72nd most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Fayette County (1.9 in 10) and Henderson County (1.9 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 (27% of weeks), then Oct (24%) and Sep (21%). Least in Apr (7%). May to September averages 13%.

1. 16 Jan
2. 17 Feb
3. 15 Mar
4. 7 Apr
5. 8 May
6. 8 Jun
7. 18 Jul
8. 13 Aug
9. 21 Sep
10. 24 Oct
11. 27 Nov
12. 13 Dec

The worst year: 2000

2000: 38 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 15.5% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 7.1% at D2, 3.2% at D3, 18 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 37 weeks, Mar 13, 2007 to Nov 20, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 24 weeks. 2016-2025: 3 in 10, against 1.3 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 29 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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