Wichita County, Kansas · Leoti
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Pipes freeze in Wichita County on about 58 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 42% of the stock here, are most at risk.
July brings the most downpours to Wichita County, part of 3.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Sewage backups in Wichita County spike on heavy-rain days, about 3.2 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Wichita County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.11 inches, and about 125 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
10% of occupied homes in Wichita County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kansas county median of 16.9%.
About 22 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 2,091 people live in Wichita County, 719 square miles in western Kansas, in roughly 920 homes. The county seat is Leoti, and Marienthal is the other large town. The county's median home was built in 1966.
43/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Wichita County ranks 77 of 105 Kansas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wichita County ranks highest compared with other Kansas counties.
Wichita is on the colder side of Kansas for pipes. It averaged 142 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 58 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 6th.
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 -20°F on February 15, 2021.
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 16 and the last spring freeze around Apr 20.
Wichita gets fewer downpours than most Kansas counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 18.8 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 3.2 days of an inch or more (94th of 105). Those downpours cluster in May, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.11 inches on July 27, 2020. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.2 inches (through May 18, 2021).
About 125 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 87% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Wichita among the oldest housing stocks of Kansas's 105 counties.
The mix runs from 42% built before 1960 to 7% 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 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.
Beyond water
About 22 nights a year in Wichita County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (98th of 105 counties). May is the wettest month. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Wichita County homes break down as 77% utility gas, 12% electric, 9% 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 Wichita County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Greeley gets more pipe-freeze nights than Wichita. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wichita | Kansas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 42% | 48% | 66 of 105 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 87% | 74% | 3 of 105 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 7.2% | 11% | 78 of 105 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 11% | 5.6% | 13 of 105 |
| Vacant homes | 10% | 15% | 80 of 105 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 17% | 84 of 105 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 58/yr | 39/yr | 6 of 105 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3.2/yr | 6.8/yr | 94 of 105 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 125/yr | 97/yr | 8 of 105 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 22/yr | 59/yr | 98 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 Wichita 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