Vernon County, Missouri · Nevada
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With 34% of homes built before 1960 and about 22 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in August. Vernon County averages 11.8 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
34% 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.
Vernon County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 4.15 inches, and about 72 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
28% of occupied homes in Vernon County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Missouri county median of 24.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 75 times a year in Vernon County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 19,687 people live in Vernon County, 826 square miles in western Missouri, in roughly 8,928 homes. The county seat is Nevada, and Sheldon, Walker and Schell City round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1976, half after.
60/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Vernon County ranks 24 of 114 Missouri counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Vernon County ranks highest compared with other Missouri counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Missouri, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 86 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 22 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 86th.
On February 16, 2021 the low fell to about -13°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 14 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. That's when an outdoor spigot left connected to a hose, or a pipe in a crawl space, is most likely to split.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 1 and end around Apr 8.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Missouri. Of roughly 43.6 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 11.8 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 36th of 114. May, June and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 4.15 inches, May 21, 2019. The worst three-day stretch dropped 6.7 inches, ending May 23, 2019, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 72 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
Roughly 55% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Vernon near the middle of Missouri's 114 counties.
In Vernon County 34% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
26% 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.
Here 10% 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.
Beyond water
About 75 nights a year in Vernon County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (14th of 114 counties). May 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Vernon County homes break down as 27% utility gas, 44% electric, 21% propane and 7% wood. Wood heat is above the Missouri norm. Annual chimney and vent inspection, which the NFPA recommends, is one of the most effective fire-prevention habits for these homes.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Vernon County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Bates and St. Clair get more pipe-freeze nights than Vernon. Barton County has the oldest housing nearby, with 59% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Vernon | Missouri median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 34% | 25% | 28 of 114 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 55% | 53% | 50 of 114 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 21% | 71 of 114 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 9.8% | 9.8% | 57 of 114 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 15% | 74 of 114 |
| Wood or propane heat | 28% | 25% | 52 of 114 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 22/yr | 28/yr | 86 of 114 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 10/yr | 36 of 114 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 72/yr | 77/yr | 88 of 114 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 75/yr | 65/yr | 14 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 Vernon County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in May, June 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