Smith County, Kansas · Smith Center
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With 56% of homes built before 1960 and about 51 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Smith County averages 5.3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Smith County spike on heavy-rain days, about 5.3 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Smith County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.77 inches, and about 112 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
19% of occupied homes in Smith County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
With 42 muggy nights a year, mold in Smith County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 3,552 people live in Smith County, 895 square miles in northern Kansas, in roughly 2,024 homes. Smith Center is the county seat; Kensington, Lebanon and Gaylord are the next largest communities. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1954.
60/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Smith County ranks 16 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Smith County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Smith is on the colder side of Kansas for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 51 nights a year at or below 20°F (20th of 105) and 136 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 13 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -21°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 19 and the last spring freeze around Apr 26.
Smith gets fewer downpours than most Kansas counties, but they still fill basements. About 5.3 days a year bring an inch or more (73rd of 105), most often in May, out of 25.5 inches of total precipitation. On June 20, 2018, 2.77 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.26 inches (through May 20, 2017).
About 112 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
Kansas's 105 counties range widely in housing age; Smith ranks 10th, with 84% of its homes built before 1980.
In Smith County 56% 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.
22% 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
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 42 times a year here, below the Kansas county median of 59. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Smith County it's 63% utility gas, 18% electric, 17% propane and 2% 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 Smith County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Phillips gets more pipe-freeze nights than Smith. Rooks County has the oldest housing nearby, with 87% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Smith | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 56% | 48% | 19 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 84% | 74% | 10 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 5.8% | 11% | 88 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.9% | 5.6% | 72 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 22% | 15% | 16 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 19% | 17% | 47 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 51/yr | 39/yr | 20 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.3/yr | 6.8/yr | 73 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 112/yr | 97/yr | 29 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 42/yr | 59/yr | 80 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 Smith 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