Stoddard County, Missouri · Bloomfield
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With 25% of homes built before 1960 and about 14 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
March brings the most downpours to Stoddard County, part of 13.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Sewage backups in Stoddard County spike on heavy-rain days, about 13.3 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Stoddard County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.37 inches, and about 58 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
16% of occupied homes in Stoddard 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 89 times a year in Stoddard County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Stoddard County covers 823 square miles of southeast Missouri, with about 28,470 residents and 13,400 homes. Besides Bloomfield, the county seat, the biggest communities are Dexter, Bernie and Advance. The county's median home was built in 1976.
54/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Stoddard County ranks 45 of 114 Missouri counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Stoddard County ranks highest compared with other Missouri counties.
Stoddard County is milder than most of Missouri, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. From 2015–2024 it averaged 14 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 67 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 108th of 114 counties.
On February 19, 2015 the low fell to about -2°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 11 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Most freezing nights fall from December 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 Nov 7 and the last spring freeze around Mar 24.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Missouri. Of roughly 52.4 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 13.3 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 8th of 114. February, March and April see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.37 inches, April 30, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.65 inches (through August 16, 2016).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 58 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Roughly 58% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Stoddard near the middle of Missouri's 114 counties.
Older and newer homes sit side by side here: 25% predate 1960 and 17% are from 2000 or later. Corroded pipe is the typical failure in the first group, burst supply hoses in the second.
25% 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 7% 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
Stoddard County averages 89 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in March. 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 Stoddard County's occupied homes: 33% utility gas, 51% electric, 14% propane and 2% wood. Heating equipment, cooking and electrical failures cause most home fires nationally. Even a small kitchen fire can leave soot through the whole house, because smoke follows air currents into closets, ducts and attic space.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Stoddard County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bollinger, Cape Girardeau and Wayne get more pipe-freeze nights than Stoddard. Dunklin County has the oldest housing nearby, with 68% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Stoddard | Missouri median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 25% | 25% | 58 of 114 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 58% | 53% | 42 of 114 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 17% | 21% | 90 of 114 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.4% | 9.8% | 81 of 114 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 15% | 72 of 114 |
| Wood or propane heat | 16% | 25% | 86 of 114 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 14/yr | 28/yr | 108 of 114 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 13/yr | 10/yr | 8 of 114 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 58/yr | 77/yr | 109 of 114 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 89/yr | 65/yr | 4 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 Stoddard County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in February, March 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