Luce County, Michigan · Newberry
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With 26% of homes built before 1960 and about 90 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
October brings the most downpours to Luce County, part of 3.1 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
26% 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 Luce County, 2.34 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
42% of occupied homes in Luce County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Michigan county median of 29%.
With 2 muggy nights a year, mold in Luce County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 4,067 homes and around 6,271 residents, Luce County is 899 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Newberry is the county seat. The county's median home was built in 1976.
44/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Luce County ranks 55 of 83 Michigan counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Luce County ranks highest compared with other Michigan counties.
Luce is on the colder side of Michigan for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 90 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 179 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 9th of 83 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 68 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -27°F on February 20, 2015.
The freeze season here runs November to April, 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 9 and the last spring freeze around May 18.
Luce gets fewer downpours than most Michigan counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 35.9 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 3.1 days of an inch or more (67th of 83). Those downpours cluster in June, July and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.34 inches on June 23, 2024. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.71 inches (through October 11, 2018).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 96 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 57% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Luce near the middle of Michigan's 83 counties.
The mix runs from 26% built before 1960 to 16% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
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.
Here 10% 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 40% of homes as vacant, above the Michigan county median of 19.5%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Luce County averages 2 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in October. 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 Luce County it's 42% utility gas, 11% electric, 32% propane and 11% 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 Luce County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Luce gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Alger County has the oldest housing nearby, with 59% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Luce | Michigan median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 26% | 32% | 54 of 83 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 57% | 58% | 50 of 83 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 16% | 42 of 83 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 9.6% | 7.3% | 21 of 83 |
| Vacant homes | 40% | 20% | 13 of 83 |
| Wood or propane heat | 42% | 29% | 22 of 83 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 90/yr | 54/yr | 9 of 83 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3.1/yr | 3.9/yr | 67 of 83 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 96/yr | 95/yr | 37 of 83 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 2/yr | 10/yr | 70 of 83 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Michigan county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Luce County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in June, July and October.
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