Gloucester County, Virginia · Gloucester Courthouse
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With 14% of homes built before 1960 and about 6 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Heavy rain days of an inch or more come about 11 times a year here, most often in June. A sump pump that hasn't run since last season is a common weak point.
14% of homes here predate 1960, when clay and cast iron sewer laterals were standard. Roots and cracks in those lines are a common cause of backups.
In Gloucester County, 5.08 inches fell on the wettest day of the 2015–2024 record. Storms like that, and ice dams in snowy winters, cause most roof leaks.
8% of occupied homes in Gloucester County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Virginia county median of 11.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 99 times a year in Gloucester County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 39,526 people live in Gloucester County, 218 square miles in southeast Virginia, in roughly 17,309 homes. The county seat is Gloucester Courthouse, and Gloucester Point is the other large town. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1987.
42/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Gloucester County ranks 70 of 95 Virginia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Gloucester County ranks highest compared with other Virginia counties.
Gloucester County is milder than most of Virginia, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. It averaged 57 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 95 Virginia counties that's 87th.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 4 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near 2°F on January 6, 2018.
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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 17 and the last spring freeze around Mar 24.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Virginia. Of roughly 50.5 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 11 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 26th of 95. June, October and December see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 5.08 inches, October 9, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.47 inches (through October 9, 2016).
About 55 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
36% of homes in Gloucester County predate 1980, below the Virginia county median of 46.2%, which ranks 66th of Virginia's 95 counties.
30% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of Virginia. Newer plumbing rarely corrodes, so damage here tends to come from appliance supply lines, water heaters, sump pumps and storms.
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.
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.
Beyond water
Gloucester County averages 99 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Gloucester County homes break down as 3% utility gas, 84% electric, 6% propane and 2% 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 Gloucester County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
King and Queen and Middlesex get more pipe-freeze nights than Gloucester. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Mathews County has the oldest housing nearby, with 56% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Gloucester | Virginia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 14% | 20% | 69 of 95 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 36% | 46% | 66 of 95 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 30% | 25% | 32 of 95 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 9.2% | 9.6% | 50 of 95 |
| Vacant homes | 12% | 15% | 56 of 95 |
| Wood or propane heat | 8.1% | 12% | 69 of 95 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 6/yr | 14/yr | 87 of 95 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 11/yr | 10/yr | 26 of 95 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 55/yr | 77/yr | 88 of 95 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 99/yr | 64/yr | 5 of 95 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Virginia county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Gloucester County: freezing from December to February, heavy rain in June, October 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