Winona County, Minnesota · Winona
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With 42% of homes built before 1960 and about 71 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
July brings the most downpours to Winona County, part of 9.6 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Winona County gets about 9.6 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Winona County, 3.78 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
18% of occupied homes in Winona County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Minnesota county median of 30%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 20 times a year in Winona County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 21,855 homes and around 49,779 residents, Winona County is 626 square miles of southeast Minnesota. Winona is the county seat; Goodview, St. Charles and Lewiston are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1969, half after.
58/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Winona County ranks 23 of 87 Minnesota counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Winona County ranks highest compared with other Minnesota counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Minnesota, and pipes still freeze. From 2015–2024 it averaged 71 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 150 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 86th of 87 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 31 days below freezing (ending March 2019), and the low bottomed out near -35°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 17 and end around May 2.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Minnesota. Of roughly 39 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 9.6 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 1st of 87. May, June and July see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.78 inches, July 20, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.47 inches, ending July 22, 2017, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 87 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
Minnesota's 87 counties range widely in housing age; Winona ranks 36th, with 64% of its homes built before 1980.
42% 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.
Renters occupy 31% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 20 times a year here, above the Minnesota county median of 13. 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 Winona County's occupied homes: 55% utility gas, 23% electric, 15% propane and 3% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Winona County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Fillmore, Olmsted and Wabasha get more pipe-freeze nights than Winona. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Winona | Minnesota median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 42% | 34% | 29 of 87 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 64% | 58% | 36 of 87 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 21% | 52 of 87 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.4% | 3.8% | 37 of 87 |
| Vacant homes | 7.3% | 11% | 62 of 87 |
| Wood or propane heat | 18% | 30% | 70 of 87 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 71/yr | 89/yr | 86 of 87 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.6/yr | 5.3/yr | 1 of 87 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 87/yr | 86/yr | 37 of 87 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 20/yr | 13/yr | 14 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 Winona County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in May, June and July.
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