Tippah County, Mississippi · Ripley
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Pipes freeze in Tippah County on about 8 nights a year, mostly December to January. Older homes, 17% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in December. Tippah County averages 16.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
17% 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.
Tippah County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.91 inches, and about 54 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
10% of occupied homes in Tippah County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Mississippi county median of 15.1%.
With 94 muggy nights a year, mold in Tippah County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 9,959 homes and around 21,523 residents, Tippah County is 458 square miles of northeast Mississippi. Ripley is the county seat; Blue Mountain, Falkner and Walnut are the next largest communities. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
64/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Tippah County ranks 13 of 82 Mississippi counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Tippah County ranks highest compared with other Mississippi counties.
Tippah County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Mississippi. From 2015–2024 it averaged 8 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 57 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 2nd of 82 counties.
The longest cold spell was straight 7 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -1°F on January 17, 2024. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs December to January, 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 Nov 7 and end around Mar 28.
Rainfall is about average for Mississippi. About 16.5 days a year bring an inch or more (36th of 82), most often in December, out of 60.2 inches of total precipitation. On September 1, 2017, 3.91 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 6.56 inches, ending February 23, 2019, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 54 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 44% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Tippah near the middle of Mississippi's 82 counties.
The mix runs from 17% built before 1960 to 27% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
About 29% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Here 18% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
20% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 94 times a year here, below the Mississippi county median of 125. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Tippah County homes break down as 53% utility gas, 37% electric, 7% propane and 3% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Mississippi 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 Tippah County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Alcorn gets more pipe-freeze nights than Tippah. Prentiss County has the oldest housing nearby, with 48% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Tippah | Mississippi median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 17% | 15% | 27 of 82 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 44% | 45% | 48 of 82 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 27% | 23% | 28 of 82 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 18% | 20% | 51 of 82 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 17% | 24 of 82 |
| Wood or propane heat | 9.8% | 15% | 59 of 82 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 8/yr | 3/yr | 2 of 82 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 17/yr | 16/yr | 36 of 82 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 54/yr | 32/yr | 3 of 82 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 94/yr | 125/yr | 80 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 Tippah County: freezing from December to January, heavy rain in February, March and December.
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