Box Butte County, Nebraska · Alliance
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With 44% of homes built before 1960 and about 82 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Box Butte County, part of 1.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Box Butte County gets about 1.3 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Box Butte County, 2.23 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
10% of occupied homes in Box Butte County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Nebraska county median of 19.4%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about once a year in Box Butte County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 5,212 homes and around 10,714 residents, Box Butte County is 1,075 square miles of northwest Nebraska. Alliance is the county seat; Hemingford and Berea are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1965, half after.
44/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Box Butte County ranks 69 of 93 Nebraska counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Box Butte County ranks highest compared with other Nebraska counties.
Box Butte County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Nebraska. It averaged 178 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 82 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 93 Nebraska counties that's 2nd.
On January 14, 2024 the low fell to about -23°F, and in the stretch ending January 2018 the county went 13 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Most freezing nights fall from October to April, 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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 7 and end around May 11.
Box Butte gets fewer downpours than most Nebraska counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 17.9 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 1.3 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 86th of 93. March, April and May see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.23 inches, May 12, 2023. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.4 inches, ending May 11, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 147 days a year swing from below freezing at night to above freezing by day. Those freeze-thaw cycles feed ice dams on roofs, open cracks in foundations and driveways, and stress pipes that are already marginal.
Housing
Nebraska's 93 counties range widely in housing age; Box Butte ranks 25th, with 79% of its homes built before 1980.
The mix runs from 44% built before 1960 to 9% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
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
About 1 night a year in Box Butte County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (90th of 93 counties). May is the wettest month. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Box Butte County's occupied homes: 69% utility gas, 21% electric, 9% 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 Box Butte County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Sioux gets more pipe-freeze nights than Box Butte. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Morrill County has the oldest housing nearby, with 87% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Box Butte | Nebraska median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 44% | 49% | 57 of 93 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 79% | 73% | 25 of 93 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9.2% | 12% | 67 of 93 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.4% | 5% | 23 of 93 |
| Vacant homes | 14% | 14% | 49 of 93 |
| Wood or propane heat | 10% | 19% | 74 of 93 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 82/yr | 64/yr | 2 of 93 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 1.3/yr | 5.1/yr | 86 of 93 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 147/yr | 112/yr | 5 of 93 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 1/yr | 27/yr | 90 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 Box Butte County: freezing from October to April, heavy rain in March, April and May.
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