Pope County, Minnesota · Glenwood
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Glenwood, Starbuck and Cyrus. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
With 40% of homes built before 1960 and about 96 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 5.9 times a year here, most often in August. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Pope County gets about 5.9 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Pope County, 2.33 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
41% of occupied homes in Pope 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
Pope County covers 675 square miles of western Minnesota, with about 11,418 residents and 6,424 homes. The county seat is Glenwood, and Starbuck, Cyrus and Lowry round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1971, half after.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Pope County ranks 16 of 87 Minnesota counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Pope County ranks highest compared with other Minnesota counties.
Pope County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Minnesota. It averaged 165 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 96 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 28th.
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.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 11 and end around May 3.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Minnesota. The county gets about 27.3 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 5.9 days of an inch or more (25th of 87). Those downpours cluster in May, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.33 inches on August 19, 2015. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.66 inches, ending July 12, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 87 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Minnesota's 87 counties range widely in housing age; Pope ranks 40th, with 61% of its homes built before 1980.
40% 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 23% 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 11 nights a year in Pope County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (53rd of 87 counties). August is the wettest month. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Pope County's occupied homes: 37% utility gas, 17% electric, 38% propane and 3% wood. Wood and propane heat are 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 Pope County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Douglas gets more pipe-freeze nights than Pope. Swift County has the oldest housing nearby, with 70% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Pope | Minnesota median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 40% | 34% | 32 of 87 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 61% | 58% | 40 of 87 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 21% | 21% | 43 of 87 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.7% | 3.8% | 56 of 87 |
| Vacant homes | 23% | 11% | 16 of 87 |
| Wood or propane heat | 41% | 30% | 19 of 87 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 96/yr | 89/yr | 28 of 87 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.9/yr | 5.3/yr | 25 of 87 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 87/yr | 86/yr | 37 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 Pope 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