Montague County, Texas · Montague
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Montague County averages 6 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly January, and 23% of its homes predate 1960.
May brings the most downpours to Montague County, part of 11.2 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Montague County gets about 11.2 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
In Montague County, 6.15 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
17% of occupied homes in Montague County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Texas county median of 6.5%.
With 117 muggy nights a year, mold in Montague County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
About 21,046 people live in Montague County, 931 square miles in northeast Texas, in roughly 10,348 homes. The county seat is Montague, and Bowie, Nocona and St. Jo round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1979, half after.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Montague County ranks 24 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Montague County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Montague County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Texas. It averaged 44 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 6 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 44th.
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 -6°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.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 13 and end around Mar 13.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Texas. Of roughly 39.4 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 11.2 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 75th of 232. April, May and October see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 6.15 inches, June 18, 2015. The worst three-day stretch dropped 8.02 inches, ending June 18, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 41 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
Texas's 232 counties range widely in housing age; Montague ranks 88th, with 52% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 23% of homes are pre-1960 and 28% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
Here 15% of housing is manufactured homes. Check the skirting and the heat tape on the main water line every fall, because that one exposed line is what freezes.
Beyond water
Montague County averages 117 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, Montague County homes break down as 34% utility gas, 48% electric, 15% propane and 2% wood. Wood and propane heat are 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 Montague County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Clay gets more pipe-freeze nights than Montague. Jack County has the oldest housing nearby, with 59% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Montague | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 23% | 20% | 98 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 52% | 46% | 88 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 28% | 26% | 105 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 15% | 13% | 95 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 18% | 17% | 100 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 17% | 6.5% | 21 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 6/yr | 3/yr | 44 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 7.8/yr | 75 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 41/yr | 27/yr | 55 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 117/yr | 129/yr | 155 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 Montague 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