Schoolcraft County, Michigan · Manistique
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Pipes freeze in Schoolcraft County on about 85 nights a year, mostly November to April. Older homes, 34% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in October. Schoolcraft County averages 4.4 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Schoolcraft County spike on heavy-rain days, about 4.4 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 99 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
39% of occupied homes in Schoolcraft County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Michigan county median of 29%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 2 times a year in Schoolcraft County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 5,956 homes and around 8,128 residents, Schoolcraft County is 1,172 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Manistique is the county seat. Half the homes here were built before 1975, half after.
61/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Schoolcraft County ranks 18 of 83 Michigan counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Schoolcraft County ranks highest compared with other Michigan counties.
Schoolcraft County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Michigan. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 85 nights a year at or below 20°F (11th of 83) and 172 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 42 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -24°F on February 20, 2015.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to April. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 14 and end around May 18.
Rainfall is about average for Michigan. About 4.4 days a year bring an inch or more (30th of 83), most often in October, out of 38 inches of total precipitation. On July 19, 2020, 2.21 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.18 inches, ending October 11, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 99 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
57% of homes in Schoolcraft County predate 1980, close to the Michigan county median of 58.4%, which ranks 47th of Michigan's 83 counties.
The mix runs from 34% built before 1960 to 17% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 26% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
The Census counted 35% 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
Schoolcraft County averages 2 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in October. 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 Schoolcraft County's occupied homes: 44% utility gas, 13% electric, 30% propane and 10% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Michigan 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 Schoolcraft County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Alger and Luce get more pipe-freeze nights than Schoolcraft. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Delta County has the oldest housing nearby, with 66% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Schoolcraft | Michigan median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 34% | 32% | 36 of 83 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 57% | 58% | 47 of 83 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 17% | 16% | 34 of 83 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 5.7% | 7.3% | 57 of 83 |
| Vacant homes | 35% | 20% | 20 of 83 |
| Wood or propane heat | 39% | 29% | 27 of 83 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 85/yr | 54/yr | 11 of 83 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 4.4/yr | 3.9/yr | 30 of 83 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 99/yr | 95/yr | 27 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 Schoolcraft County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in July, October and December.
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