Drought in Will County, IL: 1.5 years in 10 since 2000

1.5 years in 10

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

1. 19
2. 0
3. 8
4. 17
5. 0
6. 30
7. 15
8. 0
9. 0
10. 0
11. 0
12. 0
13. 12
14. 6
15. 0
16. 0
17. 0
18. 0
19. 0
20. 0
21. 4
22. 2
23. 11
24. 6
25. 7
26. 12

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (19 wk), 2003 (17 wk), 2005 (30 wk) and 2006 (15 wk). Not a single drought week in 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

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 Jul turns dry.

Against the rest of IL

71st most drought-prone of 102 IL counties; the IL middle is 2.3 in 10. Closest on the list: Pulaski County (1.5 in 10) and Alexander County (1.5 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 Jul (16% of weeks), then Jan (15%) and Dec (15%). Least in May (7%). May to September averages 10%.

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

The worst year: 2005

2005: 30 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 10.8% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 3% at D2, 0.3% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 43 weeks, Jun 21, 2005 to Apr 11, 2006.

Lately

Last drought year: 2006, 15 weeks. 2016-2025: 0 in 10, against 2.5 in 10 for 2000-2015, wetter lately. So far in 2026: 2 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

Will County lands on the plan covered in keeping a regular lawn. Its last ten years ran wetter than the ten before; what that does and does not mean. How each of Will County's 1,401 weeks was judged: how drought is counted.