Clinton County, Illinois · Carlyle
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Clinton County averages 24 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to February, and 27% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in July. Clinton County averages 10.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Clinton County gets about 10.7 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 71 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
18% of occupied homes in Clinton County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Illinois county median of 16.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 69 times a year in Clinton County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 36,954 people live in Clinton County, 474 square miles in southern Illinois, in roughly 15,765 homes. The county seat is Carlyle, and Breese, New Baden and Trenton round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1977.
42/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Clinton County ranks 81 of 102 Illinois counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Clinton County ranks highest compared with other Illinois counties.
Clinton County is milder than most of Illinois, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 24 nights a year at or below 20°F (76th of 102) and 87 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 14 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -6°F on January 2, 2018.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 25 and the last spring freeze around Apr 12.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Illinois. The county gets about 44.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 10.7 days of an inch or more (24th of 102). Those downpours cluster in March, April and July, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.86 inches on January 11, 2020. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.69 inches (through December 29, 2015).
About 71 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
55% of homes in Clinton County predate 1980, below the Illinois county median of 65.9%, which ranks 86th of Illinois's 102 counties.
21% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Illinois. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
24% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Here 9% 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 69 nights a year in Clinton County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (24th of 102 counties). July 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, Clinton County homes break down as 52% utility gas, 27% electric, 17% 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 Clinton County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bond, Fayette, Madison and Marion get more pipe-freeze nights than Clinton. Fayette County has the oldest housing nearby, with 64% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Clinton | Illinois median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 27% | 38% | 86 of 102 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 55% | 66% | 86 of 102 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 21% | 15% | 17 of 102 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8.7% | 5.6% | 34 of 102 |
| Vacant homes | 7.6% | 11% | 82 of 102 |
| Wood or propane heat | 18% | 17% | 45 of 102 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 24/yr | 35/yr | 76 of 102 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 8.4/yr | 24 of 102 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 71/yr | 81/yr | 73 of 102 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 69/yr | 51/yr | 24 of 102 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Illinois county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Clinton County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in March, April and July.
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