Drought in Wayne County, WV: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 9
2. 5
3. 5
4. 0
5. 0
6. 13
7. 0
8. 28
9. 15
10. 1
11. 0
12. 0
13. 0
14. 0
15. 0
16. 1
17. 1
18. 0
19. 0
20. 1
21. 0
22. 0
23. 1
24. 12
25. 18
26. 4

20002025

Drought years: 2005 (13 wk), 2007 (28 wk), 2008 (15 wk) and 2024 (18 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2017, 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 WV

14th most drought-prone of 55 WV counties; the WV middle is 0.8 in 10. Closest on the list: Summers County (1.5 in 10) and Logan County (1.5 in 10). Driest in WV: Mercer County (2.3 in 10). Least drought: Hancock County (0.4 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (19% of weeks), then Nov (18%) and Dec (16%). Least in Mar (1%). May to September averages 8%.

1. 6 Jan
2. 3 Feb
3. 1 Mar
4. 2 Apr
5. 7 May
6. 6 Jun
7. 5 Jul
8. 8 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 19 Oct
11. 18 Nov
12. 16 Dec

The worst year: 2007

2007: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 8.7% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 2.5% at D2, 0.4% at D3, 2 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 28 weeks, Jun 5, 2007 to Dec 11, 2007.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 18 weeks. 2016-2025: 1 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 8 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, 2007, 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.