Grant County, Minnesota · Elbow Lake
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Grant County averages 97 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to April, and 45% of its homes predate 1960.
August brings the most downpours to Grant County, part of 4 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Grant County gets about 4 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Grant County, 2.3 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
59% of occupied homes in Grant County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Minnesota county median of 30%.
About 11 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
About 6,127 people live in Grant County, 548 square miles in western Minnesota, in roughly 3,137 homes. The county seat is Elbow Lake, and Hoffman, Herman and Ashby round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1966, half after.
55/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Grant County ranks 30 of 87 Minnesota counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Grant County ranks highest compared with other Minnesota counties.
Grant County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Minnesota. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 97 nights a year at or below 20°F (27th of 87) and 165 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 60 days below freezing (ending March 2019), and the low bottomed out near -33°F on January 31, 2019.
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 11 and end around May 4.
Grant gets fewer downpours than most Minnesota counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 25.2 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 4 days of an inch or more (65th of 87). Those downpours cluster in June, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.3 inches on August 14, 2023. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.71 inches, ending July 12, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 86 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
66% of homes in Grant County predate 1980, above the Minnesota county median of 58.4%, which ranks 31st of Minnesota's 87 counties.
Before 1960 is when 45% 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.
The Census counted 21% of homes as vacant, above the Minnesota county median of 11%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
About 11 nights a year in Grant County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (53rd of 87 counties). August is the wettest month. 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 Grant County's occupied homes: 2% utility gas, 27% electric, 56% propane and 3% wood. Propane heat is 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 Grant County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Douglas and Otter Tail get more pipe-freeze nights than Grant. Traverse County has the oldest housing nearby, with 72% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Grant | Minnesota median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 45% | 34% | 25 of 87 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 66% | 58% | 31 of 87 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 21% | 54 of 87 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.9% | 3.8% | 42 of 87 |
| Vacant homes | 21% | 11% | 20 of 87 |
| Wood or propane heat | 59% | 30% | 4 of 87 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 97/yr | 89/yr | 27 of 87 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 4/yr | 5.3/yr | 65 of 87 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 86/yr | 86/yr | 44 of 87 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 11/yr | 13/yr | 53 of 87 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Minnesota county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Grant County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in June, July and August.
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