Green County, Wisconsin · Monroe
Water spreading, a burst pipe, sewage, mold or smoke? Call to be connected with a restoration company that serves Monroe, Brodhead and New Glarus. 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 39% of homes built before 1960 and about 59 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in July. Green County averages 8.1 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Sewage backups in Green County spike on heavy-rain days, about 8.1 a year, when sewer mains fill up and water finds the lowest drain.
Green County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.21 inches, and about 92 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
30% of occupied homes in Green County heat mainly with wood or propane, close to the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
With 22 muggy nights a year, mold in Green County can appear within days of a leak. Dry first, then clean.
Local risk profile
Green County covers 584 square miles of southern Wisconsin, with about 37,017 residents and 16,480 homes. Besides Monroe, the county seat, the biggest communities are Brodhead, New Glarus and Brooklyn. The county's median home was built in 1972.
62/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Green County ranks 11 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Green County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
Green County is milder than most of Wisconsin, but not mild enough to skip winterizing. From 2015–2024 it averaged 59 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 140 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 64th of 72 counties.
On January 31, 2019 the low fell to about -30°F, and in the stretch ending February 2019 the county went 17 days in a row below freezing. Leaks from split pipes typically appear the day the thaw arrives.
Most freezing nights fall from November to March, 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 Oct 18 and the last spring freeze around May 3.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Wisconsin. Of roughly 39.7 inches of yearly precipitation, the damage comes from the 8.1 days a year with an inch or more, ranked 14th of 72. June, July and August see the most. The single wettest day in the record: 3.21 inches, July 20, 2017. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.3 inches (through July 22, 2017).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 92 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
Roughly 62% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Green among the oldest housing stocks of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
Before 1960 is when 39% of these homes went up. Galvanized supply lines and cast iron drains were standard then, and after 60-plus years both corrode and crack, often out of sight inside a wall or under a slab.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 22 times a year here, above 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 Green County it's 52% utility gas, 12% electric, 27% propane and 3% 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 Green County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Dane and Lafayette get more pipe-freeze nights than Green. Lafayette County has the oldest housing nearby, with 67% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Green | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 39% | 31% | 15 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 62% | 54% | 15 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 19% | 21% | 54 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 3.5% | 4.8% | 50 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 4.3% | 12% | 65 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 30% | 33% | 40 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 59/yr | 73/yr | 64 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 8.1/yr | 6.3/yr | 14 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 92/yr | 94/yr | 44 of 72 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 22/yr | 11/yr | 5 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 Green County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in June, July and August.
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