Pittsburg County, Oklahoma · McAlester
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With 22% of homes built before 1960 and about 9 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
May brings the most downpours to Pittsburg County, part of 14.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
22% 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.
Pittsburg County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 6.87 inches, and about 56 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
12% of occupied homes in Pittsburg County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Oklahoma county median of 12.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 105 times a year in Pittsburg County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 22,252 homes and around 43,561 residents, Pittsburg County is 1,306 square miles of eastern Oklahoma. Besides McAlester, the county seat, the biggest communities are Longtown, Krebs and Hartshorne. Half the homes here were built before 1979, half after.
52/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Pittsburg County ranks 31 of 77 Oklahoma counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Pittsburg County ranks highest compared with other Oklahoma counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Oklahoma, and pipes still freeze. It averaged 60 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 9 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 58th.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 10 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -9°F on February 17, 2021.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 9 and end around Mar 26.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Oklahoma. The county gets about 51.4 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 14.3 days of an inch or more (9th of 77). Those downpours cluster in April, May and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 6.87 inches on September 22, 2018. The worst three-day stretch dropped 7.99 inches, ending September 24, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 56 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
53% of homes in Pittsburg County predate 1980, close to the Oklahoma county median of 54.8%, which ranks 45th of Oklahoma's 77 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 22% of homes are pre-1960 and 23% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 24% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
13% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, close to the Oklahoma county median of 12.3%. 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 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
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 105 times a year here, close to the Oklahoma county median of 98. 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 Pittsburg County's occupied homes: 31% utility gas, 54% electric, 10% propane and 2% 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 Pittsburg County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hughes gets more pipe-freeze nights than Pittsburg. Hughes County has the oldest housing nearby, with 64% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Pittsburg | Oklahoma median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 22% | 24% | 46 of 77 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 53% | 55% | 45 of 77 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 23% | 22% | 34 of 77 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 13% | 12% | 36 of 77 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 17% | 25 of 77 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 13% | 47 of 77 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 9/yr | 13/yr | 58 of 77 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 14/yr | 11/yr | 9 of 77 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 56/yr | 65/yr | 56 of 77 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 105/yr | 98/yr | 18 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 Pittsburg 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