Montgomery County, Missouri · Montgomery City
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Montgomery City, Wellsville and Jonesburg. 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.
Pipes freeze in Montgomery County on about 31 nights a year, mostly November to February. Older homes, 26% of the stock here, are most at risk.
July brings the most downpours to Montgomery County, part of 8.6 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Sewage backups in Montgomery County spike on heavy-rain days, about 8.6 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Montgomery County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.03 inches, and about 77 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
22% of occupied homes in Montgomery County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Missouri county median of 24.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 61 times a year in Montgomery County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Montgomery County covers 535 square miles of central Missouri, with about 11,426 residents and 5,832 homes. Montgomery City is the county seat; Wellsville, Jonesburg and New Florence are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1978.
46/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Montgomery County ranks 74 of 114 Missouri counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Montgomery County ranks highest compared with other Missouri counties.
For frozen pipes, Montgomery County is a typical Missouri county, which is still plenty. It averaged 97 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 31 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 114 Missouri counties that's 40th.
The longest cold spell was straight 14 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -12°F on January 14, 2024. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Most freezing nights fall from November to February, 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 26 and the last spring freeze around Apr 13.
Montgomery gets fewer downpours than most Missouri counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 41.3 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 8.6 days of an inch or more (91st of 114). Those downpours cluster in June, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 4.03 inches on December 27, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.03 inches (through December 29, 2015).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 77 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
Missouri's 114 counties range widely in housing age; Montgomery ranks 56th, with 53% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 26% of homes are pre-1960 and 19% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 28% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 12% 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.
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
Montgomery County averages 61 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Montgomery County homes break down as 26% utility gas, 51% electric, 13% propane and 9% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Missouri 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 Montgomery County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Audrain and Pike get more pipe-freeze nights than Montgomery. Audrain County has the oldest housing nearby, with 65% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Montgomery | Missouri median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 26% | 25% | 54 of 114 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 53% | 53% | 56 of 114 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 21% | 74 of 114 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 12% | 9.8% | 38 of 114 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 15% | 31 of 114 |
| Wood or propane heat | 22% | 25% | 68 of 114 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 31/yr | 28/yr | 40 of 114 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.6/yr | 10/yr | 91 of 114 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 77/yr | 77/yr | 55 of 114 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 61/yr | 65/yr | 65 of 114 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Missouri county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Montgomery County: freezing from November to February, heavy rain in June, 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