Osage County, Oklahoma · Pawhuska
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Skiatook, Hominy and Pawhuska. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
Pipes freeze in Osage County on about 18 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 23% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Osage County averages 9.3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Osage County spike on heavy-rain days, about 9.3 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Osage County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 6.49 inches, and about 75 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
16% of occupied homes in Osage County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Oklahoma county median of 12.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 89 times a year in Osage County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Osage County covers 2,247 square miles of northeast Oklahoma, with about 45,997 residents and 19,886 homes. Pawhuska is the county seat; Skiatook, Hominy and McCord are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1980.
50/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Osage County ranks 43 of 77 Oklahoma counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Osage County ranks highest compared with other Oklahoma counties.
Osage is on the colder side of Oklahoma for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 18 nights a year at or below 20°F (14th of 77) and 83 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
On February 17, 2021 the low fell to about -15°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 12 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
The freeze season here runs December to February, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 1 and the last spring freeze around Apr 6.
Osage gets fewer downpours than most Oklahoma counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 38.2 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 9.3 days of an inch or more (52nd of 77). Those downpours cluster in May, July and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 6.49 inches on May 21, 2019. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.63 inches (through May 21, 2019).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 75 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 50% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Osage near the middle of Oklahoma's 77 counties.
Growth since 2000 added 26% 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.
About 24% 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 14% 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 89 nights a year in Osage County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (56th of 77 counties). May is the wettest month. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Osage County homes break down as 42% utility gas, 39% electric, 13% propane and 3% wood. Wood heat is more common here than in most Oklahoma 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 Osage County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Kay gets more pipe-freeze nights than Osage. Kay County has the oldest housing nearby, with 75% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Osage | Oklahoma median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 24% | 41 of 77 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 50% | 55% | 49 of 77 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 26% | 22% | 22 of 77 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 14% | 12% | 33 of 77 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 17% | 58 of 77 |
| Wood or propane heat | 16% | 13% | 28 of 77 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 18/yr | 13/yr | 14 of 77 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.3/yr | 11/yr | 52 of 77 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 75/yr | 65/yr | 16 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 Osage 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