Sumner County, Kansas · Wellington
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With 48% of homes built before 1960 and about 26 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Sumner County averages 8.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
48% 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.
Sumner County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.95 inches, and about 82 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
21% of occupied homes in Sumner County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
With 85 muggy nights a year, mold in Sumner County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 22,353 people live in Sumner County, 1,182 square miles in southern Kansas, in roughly 10,414 homes. The county seat is Wellington, and Conway Springs, Belle Plaine and Caldwell round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1962, half after.
51/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Sumner County ranks 58 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Sumner County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Kansas, and pipes still freeze. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 26 nights a year at or below 20°F (91st of 105) and 94 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 12 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -15°F on February 16, 2021.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. 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 31 and end around Apr 8.
Rainfall is about average for Kansas. About 8.5 days a year bring an inch or more (39th of 105), most often in May, out of 33.9 inches of total precipitation. On May 21, 2019, 4.95 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 5.54 inches, ending October 10, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 82 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; Sumner ranks 67th, with 68% of its homes built before 1980.
The mix runs from 48% built before 1960 to 12% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 8% 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.
Beyond water
Sumner County averages 85 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 Sumner County's occupied homes: 58% utility gas, 20% electric, 17% propane and 4% wood. Wood heat is more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Sumner County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Kingman and Sedgwick get more pipe-freeze nights than Sumner. Harper County has the oldest housing nearby, with 79% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Sumner | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 48% | 48% | 49 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 68% | 74% | 67 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 12% | 11% | 44 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8% | 5.6% | 33 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 15% | 61 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 21% | 17% | 41 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 26/yr | 39/yr | 91 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.5/yr | 6.8/yr | 39 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 82/yr | 97/yr | 86 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 85/yr | 59/yr | 1 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 Sumner County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in May, June and September.
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