Montour County, Pennsylvania · Danville
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Montour County averages 36 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 33% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in August. Montour County averages 7.8 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Montour County spike on heavy-rain days, about 7.8 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 101 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
11% of occupied homes in Montour County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Pennsylvania county median of 10%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 25 times a year in Montour County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 8,144 homes and around 18,103 residents, Montour County is 130 square miles of eastern Pennsylvania. Danville is the county seat; Washingtonville is the next largest community. Half the homes here were built before 1976, half after.
46/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Montour County ranks 44 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Montour County ranks highest compared with other Pennsylvania counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Montour County sits near the middle of the state. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 36 nights a year at or below 20°F (37th of 67) and 124 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 13 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in January 2018. The coldest night reached about -8°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 25 and end around Apr 28.
Rainfall is about average for Pennsylvania. Of roughly 44 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 7.8 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 25th of 67. April, July and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.2 inches, July 24, 2018. The worst three-day stretch dropped 6.83 inches, ending July 26, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 101 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
Roughly 57% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Montour among the newer housing stocks of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 33% of homes are pre-1960 and 16% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
About 27% 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.
Renters occupy 32% 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
Montour County averages 25 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in July. 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 Montour County's occupied homes: 24% utility gas, 40% electric, 7% propane and 4% 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 Montour County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Columbia and Lycoming get more pipe-freeze nights than Montour. Northumberland County has the oldest housing nearby, with 77% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Montour | Pennsylvania median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 33% | 42% | 52 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 57% | 66% | 55 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 13% | 22 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 6.4% | 6.6% | 36 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 3.5% | 12% | 65 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 11% | 10% | 32 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 36/yr | 37/yr | 37 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.8/yr | 7/yr | 25 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 101/yr | 98/yr | 22 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 25/yr | 16/yr | 23 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 Montour County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in April, July and August.
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