Story County, Iowa · Nevada
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Story County averages 59 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 23% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Story County averages 7.8 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Story County gets about 7.8 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 91 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
7% of occupied homes in Story County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Iowa county median of 22.1%.
With 32 muggy nights a year, mold in Story County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 41,887 homes and around 100,466 residents, Story County is 573 square miles of central Iowa. Besides Nevada, the county seat, the biggest communities are Ames, Huxley and Story City. The county's median home was built in 1984.
42/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Story County ranks 74 of 99 Iowa counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Story County ranks highest compared with other Iowa counties.
For frozen pipes, Story County is a typical Iowa county, which is still plenty. It averaged 137 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 59 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 99 Iowa counties that's 56th.
The longest cold spell was straight 17 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -25°F on January 31, 2019. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 18 and the last spring freeze around Apr 23.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Iowa. About 7.8 days a year bring an inch or more (24th of 99), most often in June, out of 36.5 inches of total precipitation. On September 16, 2016, 2.99 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.4 inches (through June 21, 2018).
About 91 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 47% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Story among the newer housing stocks of Iowa's 99 counties.
32% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Iowa. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
Renters occupy 45% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 32 times a year here, above the Iowa county median of 29. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectMain heating fuel in Story County's occupied homes: 63% utility gas, 29% electric, 7% propane and under 1% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Story County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Boone, Hamilton, Hardin and Marshall get more pipe-freeze nights than Story. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Hardin County has the oldest housing nearby, with 84% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Story | Iowa median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 48% | 96 of 99 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 47% | 73% | 96 of 99 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 32% | 13% | 4 of 99 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.9% | 3.2% | 35 of 99 |
| Vacant homes | 7.1% | 9.5% | 82 of 99 |
| Wood or propane heat | 6.9% | 22% | 94 of 99 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 59/yr | 62/yr | 56 of 99 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.8/yr | 7.1/yr | 24 of 99 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 91/yr | 94/yr | 78 of 99 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 32/yr | 29/yr | 37 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 Story County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June 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