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US Counties With the Lowest Longest Dry Spell

3,108 US counties ranked by longest dry spell, from lowest to highest. First are Bell County, KY (10), Union County, TN (10) and Wise County, VA (10). The middle one of the 3,108 has 29.

What this measures

The most days in a row in the year without a wet day, meaning a day with a tenth of an inch of rain or more. It counts only inside the calendar year, so a dry spell that runs past New Year's Day is split in two. The rain is the county average of NOAA's daily map of weather station readings, made of squares about 3 miles wide. A state's figure is the average of its counties, each weighted by its land area. Lower 48 states only, from 1951. Source: NOAA NCEI nClimGrid-Daily.

For most measures, a national ranking mostly sorts places by income and by how urban they are. Each county’s own page compares it with the 50 counties most like it instead, which is often the fairer view.

The 100 lowest counties

RankCountydays
1Bell County, KY10
2Union County, TN10
3Wise County, VA10
4Knox County, KY11
5Leslie County, KY11
6Letcher County, KY11
7Perry County, KY11
8Pike County, KY11
9Chenango County, NY12
10Otsego County, NY12
11Dickenson County, VA12
12Norton city, VA12
13Fayette County, WV12
14Raleigh County, WV12
15Laurel County, KY13
16Calhoun County, WV13
17Nicholas County, WV13
18Randolph County, WV13
19Ritchie County, WV13
20Tyler County, WV13
21Harlan County, KY14
22Jackson County, KY14
23Lee County, KY14
24Delaware County, NY14
25Claiborne County, TN14
26Grundy County, TN14
27Marion County, TN14
28Lee County, VA14
29Barbour County, WV14
30Clay County, WV14
31Upshur County, WV14
32Boyd County, KY15
33Estill County, KY15
34Lawrence County, KY15
35Lawrence County, OH15
36Braxton County, WV15
37Doddridge County, WV15
38Gilmer County, WV15
39Lewis County, WV15
40Wayne County, WV15
41Webster County, WV15
42Floyd County, KY16
43Martin County, KY16
44Morgan County, KY16
45Wolfe County, KY16
46Franklin County, ME16
47Belknap County, NH16
48Grafton County, NH16
49Merrimack County, NH16
50Strafford County, NH16
51Sullivan County, NH16
52Albany County, NY16
53Clinton County, NY16
54Franklin County, NY16
55Fulton County, NY16
56Montgomery County, NY16
57Rensselaer County, NY16
58Saratoga County, NY16
59Schenectady County, NY16
60Schoharie County, NY16
61Washington County, NY16
62Bennington County, VT16
63Orange County, VT16
64Rutland County, VT16
65Windham County, VT16
66Windsor County, VT16
67Crawford County, IL17
68Lawrence County, IL17
69Sullivan County, IN17
70Vigo County, IN17
71Adair County, KY17
72Barren County, KY17
73Bourbon County, KY17
74Carroll County, KY17
75Carter County, KY17
76Clinton County, KY17
77Cumberland County, KY17
78Elliott County, KY17
79Fleming County, KY17
80Greenup County, KY17
81Harrison County, KY17
82Lewis County, KY17
83McCreary County, KY17
84Madison County, KY17
85Menifee County, KY17
86Metcalfe County, KY17
87Nicholas County, KY17
88Owen County, KY17
89Pulaski County, KY17
90Robertson County, KY17
91Rowan County, KY17
92Russell County, KY17
93Scott County, KY17
94Wayne County, KY17
95Androscoggin County, ME17
96Aroostook County, ME17
97Hancock County, ME17
98Kennebec County, ME17
99Lincoln County, ME17
100Oxford County, ME17

Every state, lowest first

Each state’s own published figure, not an average of its counties.

RankStatedays
1Vermont16.6
2Maine17.1
3New Hampshire18.4
4West Virginia18.5
5New York19.3
6Kentucky20.4
7Rhode Island21.5
8South Carolina22
9Tennessee22.5
10Connecticut22.6
11Ohio22.9
12Missouri23.1
13New Jersey23.3
14Arkansas23.8
15Massachusetts23.9
16Illinois24.6
17Indiana24.9
18Michigan25.5
19North Carolina25.6
20Maryland25.9
21Virginia26.2
22Pennsylvania26.9
23Georgia28.1
24Alabama29
25Mississippi29.4
26Louisiana32.9
27Iowa33.3
28Delaware33.4
29Wisconsin33.9
30Wyoming34.3
31Florida34.4
32Nebraska36.7
33Oklahoma37.6
34Kansas41.7
35Idaho42.3
36Minnesota43.1
37Colorado43.5
38Washington45.2
39Montana45.9
40South Dakota48.1
41Utah48.4
42North Dakota49.5
43Oregon52.4
44Nevada55.1
45Texas56.8
46New Mexico71.2
47Arizona82.9
48California111

More on longest dry spell

A ranking describes places, not the people in them, and a high or low place does not by itself say why. All US rankings.