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

1.9 years in 10

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

1. 36
2. 11
3. 2
4. 0
5. 0
6. 3
7. 3
8. 45
9. 53
10. 1
11. 0
12. 1
13. 5
14. 0
15. 0
16. 0
17. 18
18. 3
19. 0
20. 6
21. 0
22. 0
23. 2
24. 10
25. 21
26. 6

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (36 wk), 2007 (45 wk), 2008 (53 wk), 2016 (18 wk) and 2024 (21 wk). Not a single drought week in 2003, 2004, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 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 Nov turns dry.

Against the rest of TN

63rd most drought-prone of 95 TN counties; the TN middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Haywood County (1.9 in 10) and DeKalb 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 (28% of weeks), then Oct (22%) and Dec (21%). Least in Mar (9%). May to September averages 18%.

1. 19 Jan
2. 13 Feb
3. 9 Mar
4. 11 Apr
5. 19 May
6. 19 Jun
7. 18 Jul
8. 14 Aug
9. 19 Sep
10. 22 Oct
11. 28 Nov
12. 21 Dec

The worst year: 2008

2008: 53 weeks in drought, peaking at D4 exceptional. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 17.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 9.5% at D2, 3.6% at D3, 25 weeks with some of the county in D4. Longest unbroken spell: 96 weeks, Mar 13, 2007 to Jan 6, 2009.

Lately

Last drought year: 2024, 21 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 21 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

White County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its worst year, 2008, was not one of the big national drought years; see the worst years since 2000. How each of White County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.