Edmonson County, Kentucky · Brownsville
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Pipes freeze in Edmonson County on about 17 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 10% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Edmonson County averages 15.4 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Edmonson County spike on heavy-rain days, about 15.4 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Edmonson County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.15 inches, and about 69 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
12% of occupied homes in Edmonson County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Kentucky county median of 12.6%.
With 63 muggy nights a year, mold in Edmonson County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Edmonson County covers 303 square miles of southern Kentucky, with about 12,355 residents and 6,449 homes. Brownsville is the county seat. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1990.
46/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Edmonson County ranks 81 of 120 Kentucky counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Edmonson County ranks highest compared with other Kentucky counties.
Edmonson County is milder than most of Kentucky, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. It averaged 76 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 17 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 86th.
On February 19, 2015 the low fell to about -10°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 9 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 2 and the last spring freeze around Apr 8.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Kentucky. Of roughly 58.1 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 15.4 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 3rd of 120. February, June and July see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.15 inches, September 1, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.22 inches (through September 2, 2017).
About 69 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 33% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Edmonson among the newer housing stocks of Kentucky's 120 counties.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 32% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
About 34% 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.
Here 34% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
The Census counted 21% of homes as vacant, above the Kentucky county median of 13.2%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Edmonson County averages 63 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in July. 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 Edmonson County it's 3% utility gas, 83% electric, 7% propane and 5% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Kentucky counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Edmonson County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Barren, Grayson and Hart get more pipe-freeze nights than Edmonson. Hart County has the oldest housing nearby, with 46% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Edmonson | Kentucky median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 10% | 18% | 108 of 120 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 33% | 44% | 105 of 120 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 32% | 25% | 12 of 120 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 34% | 19% | 7 of 120 |
| Vacant homes | 21% | 13% | 10 of 120 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 13% | 70 of 120 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 17/yr | 20/yr | 86 of 120 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 12/yr | 3 of 120 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 69/yr | 73/yr | 86 of 120 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 63/yr | 59/yr | 38 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 Edmonson County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, June and July.
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