Cambria County, Pennsylvania · Ebensburg
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Cambria County averages 46 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 57% of its homes predate 1960.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 6.7 times a year here, most often in September. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Cambria County gets about 6.7 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 100 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
5% of occupied homes in Cambria County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Pennsylvania county median of 10%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 9 times a year in Cambria County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 64,456 homes and around 131,538 residents, Cambria County is 688 square miles of southwest Pennsylvania. Besides Ebensburg, the county seat, the biggest communities are Johnstown, Westmont and Elim. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1956.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Cambria County ranks 7 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cambria County ranks highest compared with other Pennsylvania counties.
Cambria is on the colder side of Pennsylvania for pipes. It averaged 136 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 46 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 67 Pennsylvania counties that's 16th.
On February 24, 2015 the low fell to about -15°F, and in the stretch ending March 2015 the county went 17 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, 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 Oct 15 and the last spring freeze around May 7.
Rainfall is about average for Pennsylvania. Of roughly 48.2 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 6.7 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 40th of 67. February, May and September see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.25 inches, September 10, 2018. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.94 inches (through September 11, 2018).
About 100 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
Roughly 80% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Cambria among the oldest housing stocks of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
In Cambria County 57% 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.
Beyond water
Cambria County averages 9 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Cambria County homes break down as 47% utility gas, 14% electric, 2% 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 Cambria County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Clearfield gets more pipe-freeze nights than Cambria. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cambria | Pennsylvania median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 57% | 42% | 5 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 80% | 66% | 2 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 6.9% | 13% | 65 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4% | 6.6% | 50 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 13% | 12% | 29 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 5.1% | 10% | 58 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 46/yr | 37/yr | 16 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.7/yr | 7/yr | 40 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 100/yr | 98/yr | 25 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 9/yr | 16/yr | 51 of 67 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Pennsylvania county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Cambria County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in February, May and September.
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