Ford County, Kansas · Dodge City
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Ford County averages 42 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 35% of its homes predate 1960.
July brings the most downpours to Ford County, part of 6.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
35% 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.
In Ford County, 2.49 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
7% of occupied homes in Ford County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 51 times a year in Ford County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Ford County covers 1,098 square miles of southwest Kansas, with about 34,074 residents and 12,743 homes. Besides Dodge City, the county seat, the biggest communities are Spearville, Wilroads Gardens and Bucklin. The county's median home was built in 1972.
41/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Ford County ranks 84 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Ford County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
For frozen pipes, Ford County is a typical Kansas county, which is still plenty. It averaged 123 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 42 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 105 Kansas counties that's 39th.
The longest cold spell was straight 12 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -15°F on February 15, 2021. 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 23 and the last spring freeze around Apr 11.
Rainfall is about average for Kansas. About 6.2 days a year bring an inch or more (62nd of 105), most often in July, out of 24.1 inches of total precipitation. On June 19, 2024, 2.49 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.35 inches (through October 9, 2018).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 109 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Roughly 64% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Ford among the newer housing stocks of Kansas's 105 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 35% of homes are pre-1960 and 14% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 11% 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 38% 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
Ford County averages 51 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 Ford County's occupied homes: 73% utility gas, 19% electric, 6% propane and under 1% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Ford County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Gray and Hodgeman get more pipe-freeze nights than Ford. Edwards County has the oldest housing nearby, with 86% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Ford | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 35% | 48% | 82 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 64% | 74% | 74 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 14% | 11% | 32 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 5.6% | 16 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 7.4% | 15% | 97 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 6.6% | 17% | 96 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 42/yr | 39/yr | 39 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.2/yr | 6.8/yr | 62 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 109/yr | 97/yr | 34 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 51/yr | 59/yr | 65 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 Ford County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June 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