Scott County, Tennessee · Huntsville
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With 11% of homes built before 1960 and about 18 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Scott County averages 14.5 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Scott County spike on heavy-rain days, about 14.5 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Scott County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.41 inches, and about 74 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
9% of occupied homes in Scott County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Tennessee county median of 7.8%.
With 40 muggy nights a year, mold in Scott County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Scott County covers 532 square miles of northeast Tennessee, with about 22,113 residents and 9,873 homes. Besides Huntsville, the county seat, the biggest communities are Oneida, Winfield and Elgin. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1988.
48/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Scott County ranks 59 of 95 Tennessee counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Scott County ranks highest compared with other Tennessee counties.
Scott is on the colder side of Tennessee for pipes. From 2015–2024 it averaged 18 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 82 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 3rd of 95 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 5 days below freezing (ending February 2015), and the low bottomed out near -8°F on January 17, 2024.
Most freezing nights fall from November to February, 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 26 and the last spring freeze around Apr 15.
Rainfall is about average for Tennessee. The county gets about 60.4 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 14.5 days of an inch or more (40th of 95). Those downpours cluster in February, July and December, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.41 inches on March 28, 2021. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.49 inches (through February 7, 2020).
About 74 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 37% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Scott among the newer housing stocks of Tennessee's 95 counties.
Housing age is mixed: 11% of homes are pre-1960 and 29% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
34% date from 1980 to 1999, the window when polybutylene, a gray flexible plastic supply pipe, was used in some homes. It's prone to leaks at the fittings, so it's worth checking for in a house from those years.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 26% 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.
Beyond water
About 40 nights a year in Scott County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (89th of 95 counties). February is the wettest month. 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 Scott County's occupied homes: 54% utility gas, 36% electric, 6% propane and 3% wood. Wood heat is more common here than the state median. Have chimneys swept and fuel-burning appliances serviced each fall, and keep three feet clear around stoves and space heaters.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Scott County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Scott gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Anderson County has the oldest housing nearby, with 54% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Scott | Tennessee median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 11% | 16% | 84 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 37% | 41% | 69 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 29% | 27% | 38 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 26% | 16% | 8 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 12% | 52 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 9% | 7.8% | 46 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 18/yr | 11/yr | 3 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 15/yr | 14/yr | 40 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 74/yr | 60/yr | 6 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 40/yr | 74/yr | 89 of 95 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Tennessee county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Scott County: freezing from November to February, heavy rain in February, July and December.
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