Barton County, Kansas · Great Bend
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Pipes freeze in Barton County on about 42 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 51% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Barton County averages 6.1 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
51% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
Barton County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.52 inches, and about 104 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
12% of occupied homes in Barton County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
With 50 muggy nights a year, mold in Barton County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 25,097 people live in Barton County, 895 square miles in central Kansas, in roughly 12,383 homes. Besides Great Bend, the county seat, the biggest communities are Hoisington, Ellinwood and Claflin. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1959.
51/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Barton County ranks 55 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Barton County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Barton County sits near the middle of the state. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 42 nights a year at or below 20°F (39th of 105) and 122 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 13 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -15°F on February 15, 2021.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 24 and end around Apr 17.
Rainfall is about average for Kansas. About 6.1 days a year bring an inch or more (65th of 105), most often in June, out of 25.4 inches of total precipitation. On August 25, 2019, 2.52 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.27 inches, ending October 10, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 104 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 Barton County predate 1980, close to the Kansas county median of 73.7%, which ranks 34th of Kansas's 105 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 51% predate 1960 and 10% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 9% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
Renters occupy 35% 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 50 times a year here, below the Kansas county median of 59. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Barton County's occupied homes: 69% utility gas, 19% electric, 11% 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 Barton County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Rush gets more pipe-freeze nights than Barton. Rush County has the oldest housing nearby, with 87% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Barton | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 51% | 48% | 43 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 77% | 74% | 34 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9.8% | 11% | 61 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8.9% | 5.6% | 26 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 15% | 45 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 17% | 82 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 42/yr | 39/yr | 39 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.1/yr | 6.8/yr | 65 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 104/yr | 97/yr | 43 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 50/yr | 59/yr | 69 of 105 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Kansas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Barton County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June and August.
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