Norton County, Kansas · Norton
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Norton County averages 58 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 52% of its homes predate 1960.
May brings the most downpours to Norton County, part of 3.5 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Norton County gets about 3.5 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Norton County, 2.86 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
17% of occupied homes in Norton County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
About 27 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
About 5,359 people live in Norton County, 878 square miles in northwest Kansas, in roughly 2,450 homes. The county seat is Norton, and Almena, Lenora and Edmond round out the largest towns. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1957.
53/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Norton County ranks 47 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Norton County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Norton County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Kansas. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 58 nights a year at or below 20°F (6th of 105) and 146 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 -23°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 17 and end around Apr 27.
Norton gets fewer downpours than most Kansas counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 22.1 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 3.5 days of an inch or more (85th of 105). Those downpours cluster in May, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.86 inches on March 14, 2021. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.64 inches, ending April 18, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 124 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 79% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Norton among the oldest housing stocks of Kansas's 105 counties.
In Norton County 52% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
18% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
About 27 nights a year in Norton County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (95th of 105 counties). May is the wettest month. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Norton County homes break down as 63% utility gas, 19% electric, 16% propane and 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 Norton County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Decatur gets more pipe-freeze nights than Norton. Decatur County has the oldest housing nearby, with 86% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Norton | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 52% | 48% | 38 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 79% | 74% | 25 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9% | 11% | 69 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.3% | 5.6% | 98 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 18% | 15% | 31 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 17% | 17% | 57 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 58/yr | 39/yr | 6 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3.5/yr | 6.8/yr | 85 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 124/yr | 97/yr | 10 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 27/yr | 59/yr | 95 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 Norton County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, 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