Lac qui Parle County, Minnesota · Madison
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With 60% of homes built before 1960 and about 89 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 5.7 times a year here, most often in August. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
60% 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 Lac qui Parle County, 3.19 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
30% of occupied homes in Lac qui Parle County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Minnesota county median of 30%.
About 16 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
Lac qui Parle County covers 765 square miles of southwest Minnesota, with about 6,682 residents and 3,469 homes. Madison is the county seat; Dawson, Boyd and Marietta are the next largest communities. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1951.
70/100 Water Damage Risk Index: High Lac qui Parle County ranks 4 of 87 Minnesota counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Lac qui Parle County ranks highest compared with other Minnesota counties.
For frozen pipes, Lac qui Parle County is a typical Minnesota county, which is still plenty. It averaged 160 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 89 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 87 Minnesota counties that's 43rd.
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 -30°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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 11 and the last spring freeze around May 3.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Minnesota. About 5.7 days a year bring an inch or more (29th of 87), most often in August, out of 27.3 inches of total precipitation. On August 11, 2016, 3.19 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.1 inches (through August 12, 2016).
About 90 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
80% of homes in Lac qui Parle County predate 1980, above the Minnesota county median of 58.4%, which ranks 3rd of Minnesota's 87 counties.
60% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
With 16% 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
About 16 nights a year in Lac qui Parle County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (32nd of 87 counties). August 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 expectMain heating fuel in Lac qui Parle County's occupied homes: 38% utility gas, 28% electric, 29% propane and 1% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Lac qui Parle County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Big Stone and Swift get more pipe-freeze nights than Lac qui Parle. Chippewa County has the oldest housing nearby, with 81% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Lac qui Parle | Minnesota median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 60% | 34% | 2 of 87 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 80% | 58% | 3 of 87 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 8.2% | 21% | 84 of 87 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 1.4% | 3.8% | 79 of 87 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 11% | 30 of 87 |
| Wood or propane heat | 30% | 30% | 47 of 87 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 89/yr | 89/yr | 43 of 87 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.7/yr | 5.3/yr | 29 of 87 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 90/yr | 86/yr | 13 of 87 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 16/yr | 13/yr | 32 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 Lac qui Parle County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in May, 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