Drought in Wright County, MO: 1.9 years in 10 since 2000

1.9 years in 10

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

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

20002025

Drought years: 2000 (17 wk), 2006 (22 wk), 2012 (28 wk), 2017 (13 wk) and 2018 (13 wk). Not a single drought week in 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 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 MO

105th most drought-prone of 115 MO counties; the MO middle is 3.1 in 10. Closest on the list: Scott County (1.9 in 10) and Cole County (1.5 in 10). Driest in MO: Jasper County (4.6 in 10). Least drought: Perry County (1.2 in 10).

When in the year it hits

Most often in Oct (24% of weeks), then Aug (17%) and Jan (16%). Least in Mar (4%). May to September averages 12%.

1. 16 Jan
2. 8 Feb
3. 4 Mar
4. 6 Apr
5. 7 May
6. 7 Jun
7. 14 Jul
8. 17 Aug
9. 16 Sep
10. 24 Oct
11. 9 Nov
12. 10 Dec

The worst year: 2012

2012: 28 weeks in drought, peaking at D3 extreme. Across 1,401 weekly maps: 11.6% of all weeks at D1 or worse, 4.6% at D2, 0.9% at D3, never any D4. Longest unbroken spell: 38 weeks, Jun 19, 2012 to Mar 5, 2013.

Lately

Last drought year: 2018, 13 weeks. 2016-2025: 2 in 10, against 1.9 in 10 for 2000-2015, about the same. So far in 2026: 16 of 44 weeks in drought, through Nov 3, 2026.

Further reading

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