Clark County, Kentucky · Winchester
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With 24% of homes built before 1960 and about 22 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 11.2 times a year here, most often in February. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
24% 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 Clark County, 3.56 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
6% of occupied homes in Clark County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Kentucky county median of 12.6%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 51 times a year in Clark County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 37,192 people live in Clark County, 252 square miles in eastern Kentucky, in roughly 16,418 homes. The county seat is Winchester. The county's median home was built in 1979.
61/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Clark County ranks 23 of 120 Kentucky counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Clark County ranks highest compared with other Kentucky counties.
Clark is on the colder side of Kentucky for pipes. It averaged 86 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 22 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 120 Kentucky counties that's 16th.
The longest cold spell was straight 9 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -17°F on February 20, 2015. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs November to February, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 31 and the last spring freeze around Apr 17.
Rainfall is about average for Kentucky. The county gets about 54.1 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 11.2 days of an inch or more (72nd of 120). Those downpours cluster in February, July and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.56 inches on April 3, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.17 inches (through April 4, 2015).
About 74 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 52% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Clark among the oldest housing stocks of Kentucky's 120 counties.
Before 1960 is when 24% of these homes went up. Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains were standard then, and after 60-plus years both corrode and crack, often out of sight inside a wall or under a slab.
About 27% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
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
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 51 times a year here, below the Kentucky county median of 59. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Clark County's occupied homes: 34% utility gas, 59% electric, 5% 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 Clark County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bourbon and Montgomery get more pipe-freeze nights than Clark. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Clark | Kentucky median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 24% | 18% | 31 of 120 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 52% | 44% | 32 of 120 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 21% | 25% | 89 of 120 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.5% | 19% | 98 of 120 |
| Vacant homes | 8.3% | 13% | 95 of 120 |
| Wood or propane heat | 5.6% | 13% | 102 of 120 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 22/yr | 20/yr | 16 of 120 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 12/yr | 72 of 120 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 74/yr | 73/yr | 44 of 120 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 51/yr | 59/yr | 84 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 Clark County: freezing from November to February, heavy rain in February, July 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