Carter County, Kentucky · Grayson
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Carter County averages 24 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 15% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 8.1 times a year here, most often in July. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
15% 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.
In Carter County, 2.33 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
26% of occupied homes in Carter County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Kentucky county median of 12.6%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 38 times a year in Carter County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Carter County covers 409 square miles of northeast Kentucky, with about 26,341 residents and 12,316 homes. Besides Grayson, the county seat, the biggest community is Olive Hill. The county's median home was built in 1984.
40/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Carter County ranks 93 of 120 Kentucky counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Carter County ranks highest compared with other Kentucky counties.
Carter is on the colder side of Kentucky for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 24 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 100 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 4th of 120 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 13 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -16°F on February 20, 2015.
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 29 and the last spring freeze around Apr 23.
Carter gets fewer downpours than most Kentucky counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 46.6 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 8.1 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 115th of 120. July, August and September see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.33 inches, June 24, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.21 inches (through September 10, 2018).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 88 times a year here. They're the main driver of ice dams and of water working its way through foundation cracks in late winter.
Housing
Roughly 44% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Carter near the middle of Kentucky's 120 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 15% of homes are pre-1960 and 23% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
33% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 25% 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
Carter County averages 38 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in July. 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 Carter County's occupied homes: 10% utility gas, 63% electric, 19% propane and 6% wood. Wood and propane heat are 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 Carter County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Lewis gets more pipe-freeze nights than Carter. Boyd County has the oldest housing nearby, with 67% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Carter | Kentucky median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 15% | 18% | 81 of 120 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 44% | 44% | 63 of 120 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 23% | 25% | 70 of 120 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 25% | 19% | 31 of 120 |
| Vacant homes | 12% | 13% | 67 of 120 |
| Wood or propane heat | 26% | 13% | 19 of 120 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 24/yr | 20/yr | 4 of 120 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.1/yr | 12/yr | 115 of 120 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 88/yr | 73/yr | 1 of 120 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 38/yr | 59/yr | 112 of 120 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Kentucky county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Carter County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in July, August 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