Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania · Greensburg
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Pipes freeze in Westmoreland County on about 32 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 44% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in April. Westmoreland County averages 7 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Westmoreland County spike on heavy-rain days, about 7 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Westmoreland County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.66 inches, and about 92 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
4% of occupied homes in Westmoreland County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Pennsylvania county median of 10%.
With 21 muggy nights a year, mold in Westmoreland County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
With 168,812 homes and around 352,500 residents, Westmoreland County is 1,028 square miles of southwest Pennsylvania. Besides Greensburg, the county seat, the biggest communities are Murrysville, New Kensington and Lower Burrell. The county's median home was built in 1964.
49/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Westmoreland County ranks 36 of 67 Pennsylvania counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Westmoreland County ranks highest compared with other Pennsylvania counties.
For frozen pipes, Westmoreland County is a typical Pennsylvania county, which is still plenty. It averaged 115 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 32 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 43rd.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 13 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -11°F on February 20, 2015.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 28 and the last spring freeze around Apr 26.
Rainfall is about average for Pennsylvania. About 7 days a year bring an inch or more (34th of 67), most often in April, out of 50.3 inches of total precipitation. On September 10, 2018, 3.66 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 6.59 inches (through September 11, 2018).
About 92 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 71% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Westmoreland among the oldest housing stocks of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.
The mix runs from 44% built before 1960 to 12% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
Beyond water
About 21 nights a year in Westmoreland County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (29th of 67 counties). June is the wettest month. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Westmoreland County homes break down as 65% utility gas, 17% electric, 3% propane and 2% 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 Westmoreland County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Armstrong, Cambria, Fayette, Indiana and Somerset get more pipe-freeze nights than Westmoreland. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Cambria County has the oldest housing nearby, with 80% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Westmoreland | Pennsylvania median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 44% | 42% | 26 of 67 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 71% | 66% | 22 of 67 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 12% | 13% | 41 of 67 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 5.1% | 6.6% | 44 of 67 |
| Vacant homes | 8.2% | 12% | 50 of 67 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.3% | 10% | 63 of 67 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 32/yr | 37/yr | 43 of 67 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7/yr | 7/yr | 34 of 67 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 92/yr | 98/yr | 48 of 67 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 21/yr | 16/yr | 29 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 Westmoreland County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in April, June 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