Clinton County, Iowa · Clinton
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Clinton County averages 51 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 53% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in September. Clinton County averages 8.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Clinton County gets about 8.5 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 86 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
19% of occupied homes in Clinton County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 36 times a year in Clinton County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 46,268 people live in Clinton County, 695 square miles in eastern Iowa, in roughly 21,581 homes. The county seat is Clinton, and DeWitt, Camanche and Wheatland round out the largest towns. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1957.
59/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Clinton County ranks 25 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Clinton County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
Clinton County is milder than most of Iowa, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 51 nights a year at or below 20°F (87th of 99) and 126 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 16 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -30°F on January 31, 2019.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to March. 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 23.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Iowa. The county gets about 39.1 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 8.5 days of an inch or more (10th of 99). Those downpours cluster in June, July and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.73 inches on July 22, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.71 inches (through July 22, 2017).
About 86 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
77% of homes in Clinton County predate 1980, close to the Iowa county median of 72.8%, which ranks 24th of Iowa's 99 counties.
53% 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.
Beyond water
About 36 nights a year in Clinton County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (27th of 99 counties). June 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 63% utility gas, 17% electric, 17% propane and 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
Cedar, Jackson and Jones get more pipe-freeze nights than Clinton. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Clinton | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 53% | 48% | 23 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 77% | 73% | 24 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 12% | 13% | 63 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 1.7% | 3.2% | 79 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 9.6% | 9.5% | 48 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 19% | 22% | 73 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 51/yr | 62/yr | 87 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.5/yr | 7.1/yr | 10 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 86/yr | 94/yr | 96 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 36/yr | 29/yr | 27 of 99 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Iowa 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 November to March, heavy rain in June, July and September.
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