Wirt County, West Virginia · Elizabeth
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Wirt County averages 25 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to March, and 17% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Wirt County averages 6.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Wirt County spike on heavy-rain days, about 6.6 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 89 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
9% of occupied homes in Wirt County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the West Virginia county median of 10.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 34 times a year in Wirt County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 5,053 people live in Wirt County, 233 square miles in western West Virginia, in roughly 2,725 homes. Besides Elizabeth, the county seat, the biggest community is Newark. Much of its housing is recent, with a median build year of 1985.
37/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Wirt County ranks 46 of 55 West Virginia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wirt County ranks highest compared with other West Virginia counties.
Pipe-freeze risk in Wirt County sits near the middle of the state. It averaged 102 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 55 West Virginia counties that's 26th.
On February 20, 2015 the low fell to about -12°F, and in the stretch ending January 2018 the county went 13 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November to March. 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 Oct 30 and end around Apr 25.
Rainfall is about average for West Virginia. About 6.6 days a year bring an inch or more (34th of 55), most often in June, out of 46.2 inches of total precipitation. On July 31, 2020, 2.58 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.97 inches, ending September 11, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
About 89 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
42% of homes in Wirt County predate 1980, below the West Virginia county median of 55.1%, which ranks 47th of West Virginia's 55 counties.
23% of homes were built in 2000 or later, more than in most of West 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.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 26% of the housing here. Water lines in the underbelly depend on intact skirting and working heat tape, and they're usually the first to freeze in a cold snap.
With 25% of homes empty at survey time, landlords and seasonal owners should shut off the main or schedule checks in winter. An unheated vacant house is also where many policies limit freeze coverage.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 34 times a year here, above the West Virginia county median of 27. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Wirt County it's 53% utility gas, 36% electric, 5% propane and 4% 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 Wirt County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Wirt gets more pipe-freeze nights than any of its neighbors. Wood County has the oldest housing nearby, with 66% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wirt | West Virginia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 17% | 31% | 50 of 55 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 42% | 55% | 47 of 55 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 23% | 17% | 10 of 55 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 26% | 16% | 6 of 55 |
| Vacant homes | 25% | 17% | 11 of 55 |
| Wood or propane heat | 9.2% | 10% | 31 of 55 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 25/yr | 25/yr | 26 of 55 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.6/yr | 6.8/yr | 34 of 55 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 89/yr | 89/yr | 25 of 55 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 34/yr | 27/yr | 16 of 55 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest West Virginia county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Wirt County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in May, June 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