Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota · Granite Falls
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Yellow Medicine County averages 87 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to April, and 53% of its homes predate 1960.
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.
53% 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 Yellow Medicine County, 3.54 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
32% of occupied homes in Yellow Medicine County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Minnesota county median of 30%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 18 times a year in Yellow Medicine County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Yellow Medicine County covers 759 square miles of southwest Minnesota, with about 9,451 residents and 4,488 homes. Besides Granite Falls, the county seat, the biggest communities are Canby, Clarkfield and Wood Lake. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1958.
69/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Yellow Medicine County ranks 6 of 87 Minnesota counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Yellow Medicine County ranks highest compared with other Minnesota counties.
For frozen pipes, Yellow Medicine County is a typical Minnesota county, which is still plenty. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 87 nights a year at or below 20°F (47th of 87) and 158 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 33 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2019. The coldest night reached about -29°F on January 31, 2019. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Most freezing nights fall from November to April, peaking in January. Disconnect garden hoses and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard frost, and keep the heat at 55°F or higher if you'll be away.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 11 and the last spring freeze around Apr 30.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Minnesota. Of roughly 28.9 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 5.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 29th of 87. May, July and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.54 inches, August 17, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.45 inches (through August 19, 2017).
About 89 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
Roughly 79% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Yellow Medicine among the oldest housing stocks of Minnesota's 87 counties.
Before 1960 is when 53% 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.
Beyond water
Yellow Medicine County averages 18 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in August. 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 Yellow Medicine County's occupied homes: 44% utility gas, 20% electric, 30% propane and 2% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Yellow Medicine County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Chippewa, Lac qui Parle and Lincoln get more pipe-freeze nights than Yellow Medicine. Chippewa County has the oldest housing nearby, with 81% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Yellow Medicine | Minnesota median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 53% | 34% | 6 of 87 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 79% | 58% | 7 of 87 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9.8% | 21% | 78 of 87 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.1% | 3.8% | 68 of 87 |
| Vacant homes | 9.3% | 11% | 52 of 87 |
| Wood or propane heat | 32% | 30% | 42 of 87 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 87/yr | 89/yr | 47 of 87 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.7/yr | 5.3/yr | 29 of 87 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 89/yr | 86/yr | 23 of 87 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 18/yr | 13/yr | 23 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 Yellow Medicine 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