Florence County, Wisconsin · Florence
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Florence and Long Lake. 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.
With 30% of homes built before 1960 and about 102 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
June brings the most downpours to Florence County, part of 3.3 heavy-rain days a year. Check the sump first.
30% 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.
Florence County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 2.42 inches, and about 111 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
49% of occupied homes in Florence County heat mainly with wood or propane, above the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about once a year in Florence County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
About 4,646 people live in Florence County, 488 square miles in northeast Wisconsin, in roughly 4,638 homes. The county seat is Florence, and Long Lake is the other large town. Half the homes here were built before 1979, half after.
41/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Florence County ranks 55 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Florence County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
Florence County gets more hard-freeze nights than most of Wisconsin. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 102 nights a year at or below 20°F (5th of 72) and 189 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 41 days below freezing (ending March 2015), and the low bottomed out near -28°F on January 26, 2019.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs October to April. 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 2 and end around May 24.
Florence gets fewer downpours than most Wisconsin counties, but they still fill basements. Of roughly 31.7 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 3.3 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 72nd of 72. May, June and September see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 2.42 inches, September 5, 2018. The worst three-day stretch dropped 3.42 inches, ending June 18, 2018, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 111 days a year. Each cycle melts and refreezes water at roof edges and in foundation cracks, which is how ice dams and basement seepage get started.
Housing
52% of homes in Florence County predate 1980, close to the Wisconsin county median of 54.1%, which ranks 47th of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
The mix runs from 30% built before 1960 to 24% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
The 1980s and 1990s account for 25% of the county's homes. If yours is from those decades, look under the sinks and at the water heater for gray plastic pipe stamped PB, which is polybutylene and leak-prone.
9% of homes are manufactured or mobile homes, above the Wisconsin county median of 4.8%. Their water lines run under the floor behind the skirting, so a torn skirt or failed heat tape freezes them faster than lines in a site-built house.
The Census counted 53% 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
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about once a year here, below the Wisconsin county median of 11. 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 expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In Florence County it's 44% utility gas, 4% electric, 37% propane and 12% wood. Wood and propane heat are more common here than in most Wisconsin counties. Heating equipment is one of the leading causes of home fires nationally, and the NFPA recommends having chimneys and vents inspected every year.
Fire and smoke cleanup: first stepsCoverage
Calls connect to restoration companies that work across Florence County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Forest gets more pipe-freeze nights than Florence. All of its neighbors see more heavy-rain days. Marinette County has the oldest housing nearby, with 58% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Florence | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 30% | 31% | 44 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 52% | 54% | 47 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 24% | 21% | 23 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 9.2% | 4.8% | 10 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 53% | 12% | 4 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 49% | 33% | 17 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 102/yr | 73/yr | 5 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 3.3/yr | 6.3/yr | 72 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 111/yr | 94/yr | 1 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 Florence County: freezing from October 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