Ontario County, New York · Canandaigua
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With 35% of homes built before 1960 and about 48 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
July brings the most downpours to Ontario County, part of 3.8 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Ontario County gets about 3.8 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Ontario County, 2.59 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
16% of occupied homes in Ontario County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the New York county median of 19%.
With 17 muggy nights a year, mold in Ontario County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 53,379 homes and around 112,625 residents, Ontario County is 644 square miles of western New York. Canandaigua is the county seat; Geneva, Victor and Clifton Springs are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1976, half after.
24/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Lower Ontario County ranks 57 of 57 New York counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Ontario County ranks highest compared with other New York counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for New York, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 129 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 48 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 57 New York counties that's 41st.
The longest cold spell was straight 19 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2015. The coldest night reached about -12°F on February 14, 2016. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
The freeze season here runs November to March, 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 26 and end around May 4.
Ontario gets fewer downpours than most New York counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 36.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 3.8 days of an inch or more (51st of 57). Those downpours cluster in June, July and August, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 2.59 inches on October 21, 2016. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.45 inches, ending October 23, 2016, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 89 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 Ontario among the newer housing stocks of New York's 57 counties.
22% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of New York. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
About 23% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
Beyond water
About 17 nights a year in Ontario County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (15th of 57 counties). October 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 Ontario County's occupied homes: 59% utility gas, 17% electric, 14% propane and 3% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Ontario County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Steuben and Yates get more pipe-freeze nights than Ontario. Monroe County has the oldest housing nearby, with 70% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Ontario | New York median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 35% | 45% | 52 of 57 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 55% | 67% | 56 of 57 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 22% | 13% | 3 of 57 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 6.9% | 7.6% | 31 of 57 |
| Vacant homes | 9.5% | 14% | 40 of 57 |
| Wood or propane heat | 16% | 19% | 34 of 57 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 48/yr | 55/yr | 41 of 57 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3.8/yr | 6/yr | 51 of 57 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 89/yr | 101/yr | 45 of 57 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 17/yr | 12/yr | 15 of 57 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest New York county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Ontario County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July 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