Scott County, Mississippi · Forest
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With 10% of homes built before 1960 and about 3 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in April. Scott County averages 17.4 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Scott County spike on heavy-rain days, about 17.4 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Scott County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 5.75 inches, and about 40 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
16% of occupied homes in Scott County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Mississippi county median of 15.1%.
With 118 muggy nights a year, mold in Scott County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Scott County covers 609 square miles of central Mississippi, with about 27,718 residents and 11,483 homes. Besides Forest, the county seat, the biggest communities are Morton, Hillsboro and Sebastopol. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1989.
47/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Scott County ranks 46 of 82 Mississippi counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Scott County ranks highest compared with other Mississippi counties.
Scott is on the colder side of Mississippi for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 3 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 40 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 28th of 82 counties.
Most freezing nights fall from January, 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 Nov 13 and the last spring freeze around Mar 10.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Mississippi. The county gets about 63 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 17.4 days of an inch or more (17th of 82). Those downpours cluster in January, February and April, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 5.75 inches on April 3, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.98 inches (through August 25, 2022).
About 40 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 34% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Scott among the newer housing stocks of Mississippi's 82 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 29% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
37% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 36% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
Beyond water
About 118 nights a year in Scott County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (53rd of 82 counties). April is the wettest month. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectMain heating fuel in Scott County's occupied homes: 19% utility gas, 63% electric, 15% propane and 1% 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 Scott County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Scott gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Newton County has the oldest housing nearby, with 48% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Scott | Mississippi median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 9.7% | 15% | 69 of 82 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 34% | 45% | 67 of 82 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 29% | 23% | 24 of 82 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 36% | 20% | 4 of 82 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 17% | 50 of 82 |
| Wood or propane heat | 16% | 15% | 35 of 82 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 3/yr | 3/yr | 28 of 82 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 17/yr | 16/yr | 17 of 82 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 40/yr | 32/yr | 23 of 82 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 118/yr | 125/yr | 53 of 82 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Mississippi county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Scott County: freezing from January, heavy rain in January, February and April.
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