Kearny County, Kansas · Lakin
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With 32% of homes built before 1960 and about 52 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
July brings the most downpours to Kearny County, part of 2.9 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Kearny County gets about 2.9 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Kearny County, 2.2 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
13% of occupied homes in Kearny County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
With 31 muggy nights a year, mold in Kearny County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Kearny County covers 871 square miles of southwest Kansas, with about 3,864 residents and 1,578 homes. The county seat is Lakin, and Deerfield is the other large town. Half the homes here were built before 1972, half after.
33/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Kearny County ranks 102 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Kearny County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Kearny County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Kansas. It averaged 136 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 52 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 18th.
The longest cold spell was straight 12 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -18°F on February 15, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs November to March, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 21 and end around Apr 17.
Kearny gets fewer downpours than most Kansas counties, but they still fill basements. About 2.9 days a year bring an inch or more (98th of 105), most often in July, out of 18.5 inches of total precipitation. On July 27, 2020, 2.2 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 2.9 inches, ending July 3, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 121 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 61% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Kearny among the newer housing stocks of Kansas's 105 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 16% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
About 23% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Here 12% 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 31 nights a year in Kearny County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (91st of 105 counties). July is the wettest month. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectBy main heating fuel, Kearny County homes break down as 69% utility gas, 19% electric, 13% 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 Kearny County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Finney, Hamilton, Scott and Wichita get more pipe-freeze nights than Kearny. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Wichita County has the oldest housing nearby, with 87% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Kearny | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 32% | 48% | 88 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 61% | 74% | 82 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 11% | 26 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 12% | 5.6% | 12 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 9.6% | 15% | 83 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 13% | 17% | 78 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 52/yr | 39/yr | 18 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 2.9/yr | 6.8/yr | 98 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 121/yr | 97/yr | 14 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 31/yr | 59/yr | 91 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 Kearny County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in March, July 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