Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania · Scranton
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With 55% of homes built before 1960 and about 48 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
August brings the most downpours to Lackawanna County, part of 9.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
55% 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 Lackawanna County, 3.73 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
7% of occupied homes in Lackawanna County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Pennsylvania county median of 10%.
With 12 muggy nights a year, mold in Lackawanna County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 100,177 homes and around 216,146 residents, Lackawanna County is 459 square miles of northeast Pennsylvania. Besides Scranton, the county seat, the biggest communities are Dunmore, Carbondale and Old Forge. It has some of the oldest housing in the state: the median home went up in 1955.
74/100 Water Damage Risk Index: High Lackawanna County ranks 2 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Lackawanna County ranks highest compared with other Pennsylvania counties.
Lackawanna is on the colder side of Pennsylvania for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 48 nights a year at or below 20°F (14th of 67) and 135 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 15 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -14°F on February 24, 2015. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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 21 and the last spring freeze around Apr 29.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Pennsylvania. About 9.2 days a year bring an inch or more (19th of 67), most often in August, out of 47.7 inches of total precipitation. On September 2, 2021, 3.73 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.24 inches (through July 26, 2018).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 100 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
76% of homes in Lackawanna County predate 1980, above the Pennsylvania county median of 66%, which ranks 12th of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
55% 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.
Renters occupy 35% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 12 times a year here, below the Pennsylvania county median of 16. 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 Lackawanna County's occupied homes: 64% utility gas, 19% electric, 6% 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 Lackawanna County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Monroe, Susquehanna and Wayne get more pipe-freeze nights than Lackawanna. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Lackawanna | Pennsylvania median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 55% | 42% | 9 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 76% | 66% | 12 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 10% | 13% | 51 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.1% | 6.6% | 60 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 12% | 12% | 32 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.1% | 10% | 50 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 48/yr | 37/yr | 14 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.2/yr | 7/yr | 19 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 100/yr | 98/yr | 25 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 12/yr | 16/yr | 43 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 Lackawanna County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in August, September 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