Terry County, Texas · Brownfield
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Brownfield, Meadow and Wellman. Start the steps below while you wait.
Answered 24/7 by a participating local provider. We're a referral service and don't do the work ourselves. How it works
Start here
Pick the closest match. These steps limit the damage and protect your insurance claim. Skip anything that isn't safe.
Pipes freeze in Terry County on about 11 nights a year, mostly December to February. Older homes, 39% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Terry County averages 2.9 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Terry County spike on heavy-rain days, about 2.9 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 67 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
4% of occupied homes in Terry 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 73 times a year in Terry County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 11,629 people live in Terry County, 889 square miles in northwest Texas, in roughly 4,789 homes. The county seat is Brownfield, and Meadow and Wellman round out the largest towns. Half the homes here were built before 1965, half after.
57/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Terry County ranks 68 of 232 Texas counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Terry County ranks highest compared with other Texas counties.
Terry County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Texas. From 2015–2024 it averaged 11 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 72 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 30th of 232 counties.
On February 15, 2021 the low fell to about 0°F, and in the stretch ending February 2021 the county went 7 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Most freezing nights fall from December 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.
Freezing nights typically start around Nov 9 and end around Mar 28.
Terry gets fewer downpours than most Texas counties, but they still fill basements. About 2.9 days a year bring an inch or more (206th of 232), most often in June, out of 16.7 inches of total precipitation. On May 5, 2015, 3.52 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.72 inches, ending May 6, 2015, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 67 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 75% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Terry among the oldest housing stocks of Texas's 232 counties.
Before 1960 is when 39% of these homes went up. Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains were standard then, and after 60-plus years both corrode and crack, often out of sight inside a wall or under a slab.
Here 9% 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.
Renters occupy 34% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 73 times a year here, below the Texas county median of 129. Mold grows when indoor humidity stays above about 60%, the EPA's ceiling. A basement dehumidifier set to 50% and drying anything wet within 24 to 48 hours prevents most problems.
Mold remediation: what to expectMain heating fuel in Terry County's occupied homes: 57% utility gas, 39% electric, 4% propane and under 1% wood. Fires here are likelier to start in the kitchen or the wiring than in the furnace. After any fire, keep the HVAC off until ducts are checked, or soot will travel through the house.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Terry County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Hockley and Yoakum get more pipe-freeze nights than Terry. Dawson County has the oldest housing nearby, with 80% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Terry | Texas median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 39% | 20% | 28 of 232 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 75% | 46% | 15 of 232 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 10% | 26% | 209 of 232 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 9% | 13% | 168 of 232 |
| Vacant homes | 10% | 17% | 187 of 232 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.3% | 6.5% | 156 of 232 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 11/yr | 3/yr | 30 of 232 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 2.9/yr | 7.8/yr | 206 of 232 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 67/yr | 27/yr | 30 of 232 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 73/yr | 129/yr | 206 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 Terry County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in June, August 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