Wheeler County, Nebraska · Bartlett
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With 36% 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 Wheeler County, part of 5.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Wheeler County gets about 5.3 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Wheeler County, 2.39 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
60% of occupied homes in Wheeler County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Nebraska county median of 19.4%.
About 20 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
About 847 people live in Wheeler County, 575 square miles in central Nebraska, in roughly 588 homes. Besides Bartlett, the county seat, the biggest community is Ericson. Half the homes here were built before 1975, half after.
47/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Wheeler County ranks 62 of 93 Nebraska counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wheeler County ranks highest compared with other Nebraska counties.
Wheeler County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Nebraska. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 70 nights a year at or below 20°F (23rd of 93) and 153 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 23 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2019. The coldest night reached about -30°F on February 15, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs November to April, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 12 and end around May 6.
Rainfall is about average for Nebraska. The county gets about 26.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 5.3 days of an inch or more (38th of 93). Those downpours cluster in March, May and July, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.39 inches on July 26, 2017. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.51 inches, ending March 16, 2021, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 114 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
Roughly 63% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Wheeler among the newer housing stocks of Nebraska's 93 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 19% of today's homes. In houses that new, the weak points are washing machine hoses, ice maker lines, water heaters and sump pumps rather than the pipes in the walls.
18% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Nebraska county median of 5%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
The Census counted 39% of homes as vacant, above the Nebraska county median of 14.2%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
Wheeler County averages 20 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Wheeler County it's 4% utility gas, 33% electric, 58% propane and 3% wood. Propane heat is more common here than in most Nebraska 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 Wheeler 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 Wheeler. Antelope County has the oldest housing nearby, with 77% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wheeler | Nebraska median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 36% | 49% | 78 of 93 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 63% | 73% | 79 of 93 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 12% | 14 of 93 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 18% | 5% | 4 of 93 |
| Vacant homes | 39% | 14% | 2 of 93 |
| Wood or propane heat | 60% | 19% | 13 of 93 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 70/yr | 64/yr | 23 of 93 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 5.3/yr | 5.1/yr | 38 of 93 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 114/yr | 112/yr | 42 of 93 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 20/yr | 27/yr | 57 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 Wheeler County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in March, May and July.
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