Ashland County, Wisconsin · Ashland
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Ashland County averages 100 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to April, and 39% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in June. Ashland County averages 4.3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Ashland County gets about 4.3 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 96 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
36% of occupied homes in Ashland County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
With 1 muggy night a year, mold in Ashland County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Ashland County covers 1,045 square miles of northwest Wisconsin, with about 16,080 residents and 9,445 homes. Ashland is the county seat; Mellen, Butternut and Birch Hill are the next largest communities. The county's median home was built in 1972.
56/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Ashland County ranks 21 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Ashland County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
Ashland is on the colder side of Wisconsin for pipes. It averaged 180 freezing nights a year over 2015–2024, 100 of them at 20°F or colder, cold enough for pipes in outside walls and crawl spaces to freeze. Among 72 Wisconsin counties that's 6th.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 40 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -32°F on January 31, 2019.
The freeze season here runs November to April, 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 Oct 5 and the last spring freeze around May 18.
Ashland gets fewer downpours than most Wisconsin counties, but they still fill basements. The county gets about 33.9 inches of rain and melted snow a year, with 4.3 days of an inch or more (67th of 72). Those downpours cluster in May, June and September, when sump pumps and gutters are tested hardest. The wettest day on record brought 3.66 inches on July 12, 2016. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.68 inches (through June 18, 2018).
About 96 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 62% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Ashland among the oldest housing stocks of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
39% 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.
About 22% of homes went up between 1980 and 1999. Some houses from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s were plumbed with polybutylene, a gray plastic pipe known for failing at fittings. A plumber can tell you in a few minutes whether you have it.
The Census counted 28% of homes as vacant, above the Wisconsin county median of 12%. Empty houses are where a small leak turns into a large claim, because nobody is there to hear it.
Beyond water
About 1 night a year in Ashland County stay at 65°F or warmer, a sign of muggy summer air (65th of 72 counties). June is the wettest month. 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 expectMain heating fuel in Ashland County's occupied homes: 51% utility gas, 11% electric, 26% propane and 10% wood. Wood heat is 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 Ashland County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Iron gets more pipe-freeze nights than Ashland. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Ashland | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 39% | 31% | 12 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 62% | 54% | 17 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 21% | 66 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 6.4% | 4.8% | 25 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 28% | 12% | 18 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 36% | 33% | 33 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 100/yr | 73/yr | 6 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 4.3/yr | 6.3/yr | 67 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 96/yr | 94/yr | 24 of 72 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 1/yr | 11/yr | 65 of 72 |
Rank 1 is the highest value. Bars run from the lowest to the highest Wisconsin county; the tick marks the median; orange means higher water damage risk than the median, green means lower.
Questions
Peak risk months in Ashland County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in May, June and September.
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