Jefferson County, Oklahoma · Waurika
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With 36% of homes built before 1960 and about 7 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Jefferson County, part of 10.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
36% 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.
Jefferson County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 6.74 inches, and about 49 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
4% of occupied homes in Jefferson County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Oklahoma county median of 12.5%.
With 113 muggy nights a year, mold in Jefferson County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 2,734 homes and around 5,380 residents, Jefferson County is 759 square miles of southern Oklahoma. Besides Waurika, the county seat, the biggest communities are Ringling, Ryan and Terral. Half the homes here were built before 1970, half after.
52/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Jefferson County ranks 29 of 77 Oklahoma counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Jefferson County ranks highest compared with other Oklahoma counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Oklahoma, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 53 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 7 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 77 Oklahoma counties that's 68th.
The longest cold spell was straight 10 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -7°F on February 16, 2021. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs December to February. 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 Nov 8 and end around Mar 18.
Rainfall is about average for Oklahoma. The county gets about 38.7 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 10.2 days of an inch or more (44th of 77). Those downpours cluster in April, May and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 6.74 inches on June 18, 2015. The worst three-day stretch dropped 8.51 inches, ending June 18, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 49 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
76% of homes in Jefferson County predate 1980, above the Oklahoma county median of 54.8%, which ranks 7th of Oklahoma's 77 counties.
In Jefferson County 36% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 9% 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.
With 21% 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
Jefferson County averages 113 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 Jefferson County it's 44% utility gas, 49% electric, 3% propane and 1% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Jefferson County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Cotton and Stephens get more pipe-freeze nights than Jefferson. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Jefferson | Oklahoma median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 36% | 24% | 15 of 77 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 76% | 55% | 7 of 77 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 9.5% | 22% | 71 of 77 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 8.7% | 12% | 60 of 77 |
| Vacant homes | 21% | 17% | 22 of 77 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4% | 13% | 72 of 77 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 7/yr | 13/yr | 68 of 77 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 10/yr | 11/yr | 44 of 77 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 49/yr | 65/yr | 71 of 77 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 113/yr | 98/yr | 6 of 77 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Oklahoma county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Jefferson County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in April, May and October.
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