Cooke County, Texas · Gainesville
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Pipes freeze in Cooke County on about 5 nights a year, mostly January. Older homes, 20% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in May. Cooke County averages 12.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Cooke County gets about 12.2 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 36 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
12% of occupied homes in Cooke County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Texas county median of 6.5%.
About 122 nights a year here stay at 65°F or warmer, so basements and crawl spaces can grow mold even without a leak.
Local risk profile
Cooke County covers 875 square miles of northeast Texas, with about 43,046 residents and 17,944 homes. Besides Gainesville, the county seat, the biggest communities are Lake Kiowa, Muenster and Lindsay. The county's median home was built in 1983.
61/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Cooke County ranks 35 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Cooke County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Cooke is on the colder side of Texas for pipes. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 5 nights a year at or below 20°F (54th of 232) and 39 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 10 days below freezing (ending February 2021), and the low bottomed out near -4°F on February 16, 2021.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs January. 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 Nov 15 and the last spring freeze around Mar 7.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. About 12.2 days a year bring an inch or more (66th of 232), most often in May, out of 42.2 inches of total precipitation. On June 18, 2015, 5.17 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 7.17 inches (through November 29, 2015).
Freeze-thaw days, below freezing overnight and above it by afternoon, come about 36 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
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Cooke ranks 111th, with 46% of its homes built before 1980.
Since 2000 the county has added enough housing that 31% of homes are that new. Modern PEX and copper rarely fail on their own; the leaks come from connections, appliances and storms.
About 23% 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.
12% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, close to the Texas county median of 13.4%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
Beyond water
Cooke County averages 122 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in May. 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, Cooke County homes break down as 24% utility gas, 63% electric, 11% propane and 1% wood. Propane heat is more common here than in most Texas counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Cooke County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Montague gets more pipe-freeze nights than Cooke. Montague County has the oldest housing nearby, with 52% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Cooke | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 20% | 20% | 114 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 46% | 46% | 111 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 31% | 26% | 83 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 12% | 13% | 145 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 7.9% | 17% | 205 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 12% | 6.5% | 59 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 5/yr | 3/yr | 54 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 12/yr | 7.8/yr | 66 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 36/yr | 27/yr | 75 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 122/yr | 129/yr | 143 of 232 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Texas county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Cooke County: freezing from January, heavy rain in April, May 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