Jefferson County, Pennsylvania · Brookville
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With 49% of homes built before 1960 and about 46 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
August brings the most downpours to Jefferson County, part of 4.8 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
49% 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 3.71 inches, and about 105 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
12% of occupied homes in Jefferson County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Pennsylvania county median of 10%.
With 9 muggy nights a year, mold in Jefferson County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 22,085 homes and around 43,864 residents, Jefferson County is 652 square miles of western Pennsylvania. Besides Brookville, the county seat, the biggest communities are Punxsutawney, Reynoldsville and Brockway. Half the homes here were built before 1961, half after.
47/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Jefferson County ranks 40 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Jefferson County ranks highest compared with other Pennsylvania counties.
Jefferson County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Pennsylvania. It averaged 137 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.
The longest cold spell was straight 17 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2015. The coldest night reached about -18°F on February 24, 2015. 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 November to March. 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 Oct 17 and end around May 12.
Jefferson gets fewer downpours than most Pennsylvania counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 45.5 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 4.8 days of an inch or more (66th of 67). Those downpours cluster in April, August and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.71 inches on September 30, 2015. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.51 inches, ending September 11, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 105 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
73% of homes in Jefferson County predate 1980, above the Pennsylvania county median of 66%, which ranks 20th of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
In Jefferson County 49% 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 8% 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 17% 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 9 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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 69% utility gas, 8% electric, 8% propane and 5% 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
Clearfield, Elk and Forest get more pipe-freeze nights than Jefferson. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Elk County has the oldest housing nearby, with 74% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Jefferson | Pennsylvania median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 49% | 42% | 20 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 73% | 66% | 20 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 11% | 13% | 48 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.7% | 6.6% | 31 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 17% | 12% | 19 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 10% | 28 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 46/yr | 37/yr | 16 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 4.8/yr | 7/yr | 66 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 105/yr | 98/yr | 11 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 Jefferson County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in April, August 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