Itasca County, Minnesota · Grand Rapids
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With 25% of homes built before 1960 and about 113 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in August. Itasca County averages 2.7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Itasca County spike on heavy-rain days, about 2.7 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Itasca County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.1 inches, and about 90 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
36% of occupied homes in Itasca County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Minnesota county median of 30%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 2 times a year in Itasca County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Itasca County covers 2,668 square miles of northern Minnesota, with about 45,275 residents and 25,679 homes. Besides Grand Rapids, the county seat, the biggest communities are Cohasset, Coleraine and Keewatin. The county's median home was built in 1979.
37/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Itasca County ranks 74 of 87 Minnesota counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Itasca County ranks highest compared with other Minnesota counties.
Itasca is on the colder side of Minnesota for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 113 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 183 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 11th of 87 counties.
On January 31, 2019 the low fell to about -41°F, and in the stretch ending March 2019 the county went 60 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
The freeze season here runs November to April, with December 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 4 and the last spring freeze around May 12.
Itasca gets fewer downpours than most Minnesota counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 26 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 2.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 83rd of 87. June, July and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.1 inches, June 19, 2024. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 2.95 inches (through June 19, 2024).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 90 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
52% of homes in Itasca County predate 1980, below the Minnesota county median of 58.4%, which ranks 58th of Minnesota's 87 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 25% of homes are pre-1960 and 22% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
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.
8% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Minnesota county median of 3.8%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
With 28% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
Itasca County averages 2 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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 Itasca County it's 41% utility gas, 16% electric, 27% propane and 9% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Minnesota 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 Itasca County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Koochiching and St. Louis get more pipe-freeze nights than Itasca. St. Louis County has the oldest housing nearby, with 70% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Itasca | Minnesota median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 25% | 34% | 62 of 87 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 52% | 58% | 58 of 87 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 22% | 21% | 36 of 87 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.6% | 3.8% | 17 of 87 |
| Vacant homes | 28% | 11% | 13 of 87 |
| Wood or propane heat | 36% | 30% | 28 of 87 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 113/yr | 89/yr | 11 of 87 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 2.7/yr | 5.3/yr | 83 of 87 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 90/yr | 86/yr | 13 of 87 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 2/yr | 13/yr | 79 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 Itasca 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