Grayson County, Kentucky · Leitchfield
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Grayson County averages 20 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to February, and 11% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Grayson County averages 15.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Grayson County gets about 15.6 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 75 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
19% of occupied homes in Grayson County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Kentucky county median of 12.6%.
About 58 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
With 13,369 homes and around 26,707 residents, Grayson County is 500 square miles of central Kentucky. Besides Leitchfield, the county seat, the biggest communities are Clarkson, Caneyville and Big Clifty. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1988.
53/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Grayson County ranks 56 of 120 Kentucky counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Grayson County ranks highest compared with other Kentucky counties.
For frozen pipes, Grayson County is a typical Kentucky county, which is still plenty. It averaged 84 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 20 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 50th.
On February 20, 2015 the low fell to about -11°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 November 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 1 and the last spring freeze around Apr 11.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Kentucky. The county gets about 57.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 15.6 days of an inch or more (1st of 120). Those downpours cluster in February, June and July, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.95 inches on October 28, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.09 inches (through September 3, 2017).
About 75 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 40% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Grayson near the middle of Kentucky's 120 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 30% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
About 30% 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 16% 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.
24% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
About 58 nights a year in Grayson County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (62nd of 120 counties). July 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Grayson County it's 12% utility gas, 68% electric, 14% propane and 5% wood. Wood and propane heat are 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 Grayson County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Breckinridge and Hardin get more pipe-freeze nights than Grayson. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Hart County has the oldest housing nearby, with 46% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Grayson | Kentucky median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 11% | 18% | 99 of 120 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 40% | 44% | 79 of 120 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 30% | 25% | 24 of 120 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 16% | 19% | 65 of 120 |
| Vacant homes | 24% | 13% | 5 of 120 |
| Wood or propane heat | 19% | 13% | 43 of 120 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 20/yr | 20/yr | 50 of 120 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 16/yr | 12/yr | 1 of 120 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 75/yr | 73/yr | 38 of 120 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 58/yr | 59/yr | 62 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 Grayson County: freezing from November 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