Wood County, West Virginia · Parkersburg
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Pipes freeze in Wood County on about 22 nights a year, mostly November to March. Older homes, 38% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in February. Wood County averages 7.6 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Wood County gets about 7.6 days a year, when storm water overloads sewer mains and pushes up through the lowest drain in the house.
Roof leaks here come from summer downpours and, with about 82 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
5% of occupied homes in Wood County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the West Virginia county median of 10.1%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 41 times a year in Wood County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 40,283 homes and around 83,407 residents, Wood County is 366 square miles of western West Virginia. The county seat is Parkersburg, and Vienna, Blennerhassett and Williamstown round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1970.
63/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Wood County ranks 11 of 55 West Virginia counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wood County ranks highest compared with other West Virginia counties.
Wood County is milder than most of West Virginia, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. From 2015–2024 it averaged 22 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 95 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 42nd of 55 counties.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 13 days below freezing (ending January 2018), and the low bottomed out near -10°F on February 20, 2015.
The freeze season here runs November to March, with January the coldest. If you travel then, leave the thermostat at 55°F or above and open sink cabinets on outside walls.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Nov 2 and the last spring freeze around Apr 19.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of West Virginia. About 7.6 days a year bring an inch or more (11th of 55), most often in February, out of 45.5 inches of total precipitation. On September 30, 2015, 2.47 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.2 inches (through September 11, 2018).
About 82 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
West Virginia's 55 counties range widely in housing age; Wood ranks 10th, with 66% of its homes built before 1980.
38% were built before 1960. Homes from that era often still have galvanized steel supply pipe, which rusts from the inside until it pinholes, and cast iron drains that crack with age. Slow leaks behind walls are a common start to water damage in these houses.
Manufactured and mobile homes make up 8% 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.
Beyond water
Wood County averages 41 warm, muggy nights a year (lows of 65°F or more) and gets the most rain in June. 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, Wood County homes break down as 73% utility gas, 22% electric, 3% propane and 2% wood. Most homes here heat with gas or electricity, so cooking and electrical faults are the likelier fire sources. Even a contained kitchen fire can send soot through the ductwork to every room.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Wood County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Every neighboring county gets more pipe-freeze nights than Wood. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wood | West Virginia median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 38% | 31% | 12 of 55 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 66% | 55% | 10 of 55 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 13% | 17% | 46 of 55 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 7.8% | 16% | 49 of 55 |
| Vacant homes | 11% | 17% | 48 of 55 |
| Wood or propane heat | 4.9% | 10% | 44 of 55 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 22/yr | 25/yr | 42 of 55 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.6/yr | 6.8/yr | 11 of 55 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 82/yr | 89/yr | 46 of 55 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 41/yr | 27/yr | 10 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 Wood County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in February, March and April.
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