Wright County, Missouri · Hartville
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Wright County averages 24 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to February, and 29% of its homes predate 1960.
April brings the most downpours to Wright County, part of 11.9 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
29% 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.
In Wright County, 5.13 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
44% of occupied homes in Wright 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 55 times a year in Wright County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 18,965 people live in Wright County, 682 square miles in southern Missouri, in roughly 8,367 homes. Hartville is the county seat; Mountain Grove, Mansfield and Norwood are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1978.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Wright County ranks 63 of 114 Missouri counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wright County ranks highest compared with other Missouri counties.
For frozen pipes, Wright County is a typical Missouri county, which is still plenty. It averaged 87 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 24 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 70th.
The longest cold spell was straight 12 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -10°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs December to February, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 25 and the last spring freeze around Apr 9.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Missouri. The county gets about 49.4 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 11.9 days of an inch or more (34th of 114). Those downpours cluster in April, May and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 5.13 inches on April 30, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 8.55 inches (through November 5, 2024).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 75 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 53% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Wright near the middle of Missouri's 114 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 29% of homes are pre-1960 and 22% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 10% 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 55 nights a year in Wright County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (85th 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 expectMain heating fuel in Wright County's occupied homes: 18% utility gas, 36% electric, 28% propane and 16% wood. Wood and propane heat are 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 Wright County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Webster gets more pipe-freeze nights than Wright. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wright | Missouri median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 29% | 25% | 46 of 114 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 53% | 53% | 59 of 114 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 22% | 21% | 56 of 114 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 10% | 9.8% | 51 of 114 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 15% | 67 of 114 |
| Wood or propane heat | 44% | 25% | 16 of 114 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 24/yr | 28/yr | 70 of 114 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 10/yr | 34 of 114 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 75/yr | 77/yr | 72 of 114 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 55/yr | 65/yr | 85 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 Wright County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in April, May 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