Kay County, Oklahoma · Newkirk
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Kay County averages 21 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly December to February, and 45% of its homes predate 1960.
May brings the most downpours to Kay County, part of 8.7 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
45% 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.
In Kay County, 5.6 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
6% of occupied homes in Kay County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Oklahoma county median of 12.5%.
About 89 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
With 20,913 homes and around 43,625 residents, Kay County is 920 square miles of northeast Oklahoma. The county seat is Newkirk, and Ponca City, Blackwell and Tonkawa round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1964.
65/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Kay County ranks 2 of 77 Oklahoma counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Kay County ranks highest compared with other Oklahoma counties.
Kay is on the colder side of Oklahoma for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 21 nights a year at or below 20°F (11th of 77) and 86 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 12 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -13°F on February 17, 2021.
Most freezing nights fall from December to February, 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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 3 and the last spring freeze around Apr 6.
Kay gets fewer downpours than most Oklahoma counties, but they still fill basements. About 8.7 days a year bring an inch or more (55th of 77), most often in May, out of 34.7 inches of total precipitation. On May 21, 2019, 5.6 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.21 inches (through May 21, 2019).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 78 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 75% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Kay among the oldest housing stocks of Oklahoma's 77 counties.
45% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
The Census counted 20% of homes as vacant, above the Oklahoma county median of 17.1%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
About 89 nights a year in Kay County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (56th of 77 counties). May is the wettest month. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Kay County's occupied homes: 71% utility gas, 21% electric, 5% propane and 1% 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 Kay County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Grant gets more pipe-freeze nights than Kay. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Kay | Oklahoma median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 45% | 24% | 5 of 77 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 75% | 55% | 9 of 77 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 8.8% | 22% | 75 of 77 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 5.6% | 12% | 67 of 77 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 17% | 25 of 77 |
| Wood or propane heat | 6.3% | 13% | 65 of 77 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 21/yr | 13/yr | 11 of 77 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.7/yr | 11/yr | 55 of 77 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 78/yr | 65/yr | 13 of 77 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 89/yr | 98/yr | 56 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 Kay County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in May, July 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