Antelope County, Nebraska · Neligh
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With 50% of homes built before 1960 and about 70 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Antelope County, part of 5.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Antelope County gets about 5.2 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Antelope County, 2.18 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
26% of occupied homes in Antelope County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Nebraska county median of 19.4%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 26 times a year in Antelope County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 3,149 homes and around 6,305 residents, Antelope County is 857 square miles of northeast Nebraska. Neligh is the county seat; Elgin, Orchard and Oakdale are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1960, half after.
59/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Antelope County ranks 17 of 93 Nebraska counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Antelope County ranks highest compared with other Nebraska counties.
Antelope County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Nebraska. From 2015–2024 it averaged 70 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 148 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 23rd of 93 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 23 days below freezing (ending March 2019), and the low bottomed out near -30°F on February 15, 2021.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to March. 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 Oct 15 and end around Apr 29.
Rainfall is about average for Nebraska. About 5.2 days a year bring an inch or more (41st of 93), most often in May, out of 26.6 inches of total precipitation. On August 16, 2017, 2.18 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.7 inches, ending October 14, 2023, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 105 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
Nebraska's 93 counties range widely in housing age; Antelope ranks 33rd, with 77% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 50% of homes are pre-1960 and 8% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
With 16% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 26 times a year here, close to the Nebraska county median of 27. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Antelope County it's 43% utility gas, 28% electric, 22% propane and 4% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Antelope County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Holt gets more pipe-freeze nights than Antelope. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Antelope | Nebraska median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 50% | 49% | 42 of 93 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 77% | 73% | 33 of 93 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 8.4% | 12% | 68 of 93 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.3% | 5% | 71 of 93 |
| Vacant homes | 16% | 14% | 38 of 93 |
| Wood or propane heat | 26% | 19% | 34 of 93 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 70/yr | 64/yr | 23 of 93 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.2/yr | 5.1/yr | 41 of 93 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 105/yr | 112/yr | 57 of 93 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 26/yr | 27/yr | 49 of 93 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Nebraska county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Antelope County: freezing from November to March, 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