Colbert County, Alabama · Tuscumbia
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Colbert County averages 7 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to February, and 23% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in March. Colbert County averages 16 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Colbert County gets about 16 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 55 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
8% of occupied homes in Colbert County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Alabama county median of 9.9%.
With 89 muggy nights a year, mold in Colbert County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 28,040 homes and around 58,022 residents, Colbert County is 593 square miles of northwest Alabama. Besides Tuscumbia, the county seat, the biggest communities are Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Cherokee. The county's median home was built in 1979.
77/100 Water Damage Risk Index: High Colbert County ranks 1 of 67 Alabama counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Colbert County ranks highest compared with other Alabama counties.
Colbert is on the colder side of Alabama for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 7 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 57 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 1st of 67 counties.
On January 17, 2024 the low fell to about 1°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 5 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
The freeze season here runs December to February, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 9 and the last spring freeze around Mar 23.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Alabama. About 16 days a year bring an inch or more (19th of 67), most often in March, out of 59.7 inches of total precipitation. On August 31, 2021, 4.81 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.01 inches (through February 23, 2019).
About 55 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
Roughly 51% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Colbert among the oldest housing stocks of Alabama's 67 counties.
23% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
About 22% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Here 8% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
About 89 nights a year in Colbert County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (59th of 67 counties). February is the wettest month. Keep indoor humidity under 60%, as the EPA advises, and dry any leak within 24 to 48 hours; in a humid month a wet basement left alone won't dry by itself.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Colbert County homes break down as 29% utility gas, 62% electric, 8% propane and under 1% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Colbert County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Colbert gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Colbert | Alabama median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 16% | 5 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 51% | 44% | 15 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 27% | 23% | 19 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.5% | 22% | 62 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 16% | 46 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.9% | 9.9% | 40 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 7/yr | 3/yr | 1 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 15/yr | 19 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 55/yr | 38/yr | 2 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 89/yr | 112/yr | 59 of 67 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Alabama county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Colbert County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, March and December.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024 5-year estimates (2020-2024); weather from NOAA nClimGrid-Daily county averages (EpiNOAA), 2015–2024, averaged across the county; county boundaries from Census TIGER. Reviewed 2026-10-21. Methodology