Hansford County, Texas · Spearman
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With 27% of homes built before 1960 and about 25 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
July brings the most downpours to Hansford County, part of 3.4 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Sewage backups in Hansford County spike on heavy-rain days, about 3.4 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Hansford County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.06 inches, and about 98 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
2% of occupied homes in Hansford County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Texas county median of 6.5%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 59 times a year in Hansford County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 5,119 people live in Hansford County, 920 square miles in northern Texas, in roughly 2,275 homes. Spearman is the county seat; Gruver and Morse are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1970.
54/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Hansford County ranks 85 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Hansford County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Hansford is on the colder side of Texas for pipes. It averaged 105 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 25 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 232 Texas counties that's 7th.
The longest cold spell was straight 10 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in February 2021. The coldest night reached about -12°F on February 15, 2021. 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 February. 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 1 and the last spring freeze around Apr 8.
Hansford gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 20.5 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 3.4 days of an inch or more (197th of 232). Those downpours cluster in June, July and October, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.06 inches on October 22, 2015. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 3.6 inches (through October 22, 2015).
About 98 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 72% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Hansford among the oldest housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
In Hansford County 27% of homes are older than 1960. If yours is one of them and the plumbing has never been replaced, expect galvanized steel supply pipe and cast iron drain lines, the two materials most likely to fail quietly.
Beyond water
About 59 nights a year in Hansford County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (217th of 232 counties). May 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Hansford County homes break down as 71% utility gas, 27% electric, 2% propane and under 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 Hansford County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Sherman gets more pipe-freeze nights than Hansford. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Hansford | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 27% | 20% | 73 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 72% | 46% | 21 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 11% | 26% | 205 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 6.6% | 13% | 194 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 18% | 17% | 91 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 1.6% | 6.5% | 217 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 25/yr | 3/yr | 7 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3.4/yr | 7.8/yr | 197 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 98/yr | 27/yr | 7 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 59/yr | 129/yr | 217 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 Hansford County: freezing from November to February, heavy rain in June, July 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