La Crosse County, Wisconsin · La Crosse
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La Crosse County averages 69 nights a year at 20°F or colder, mostly November to April, and 31% of its homes predate 1960.
Basements flood here mostly in May. La Crosse County averages 9.2 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which La Crosse County gets about 9.2 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 90 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
8% of occupied homes in La Crosse County heat mainly with wood or propane, below the Wisconsin county median of 32.9%.
Muggy summer nights, lows of 65°F or more, come about 20 times a year in La Crosse County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 54,011 homes and around 120,488 residents, La Crosse County is 452 square miles of southwest Wisconsin. Besides La Crosse, the county seat, the biggest communities are Onalaska, Holmen and West Salem. The county's median home was built in 1978.
64/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated La Crosse County ranks 8 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where La Crosse County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
For frozen pipes, La Crosse County is a typical Wisconsin county, which is still plenty. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 69 nights a year at or below 20°F (41st of 72) and 149 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
Cold snaps are the real risk. The worst in the record lasted 24 days below freezing (ending February 2019), and the low bottomed out near -34°F on January 31, 2019.
Expect the hardest freezes in January, inside a season that runs November 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.
On average the first fall freeze arrives around Oct 19 and the last spring freeze around May 3.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Wisconsin. About 9.2 days a year bring an inch or more (1st of 72), most often in May, out of 39.1 inches of total precipitation. On July 20, 2017, 4.83 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 5.54 inches (through August 29, 2018).
The temperature crosses 32°F in both directions on roughly 90 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
53% of homes in La Crosse County predate 1980, close to the Wisconsin county median of 54.1%, which ranks 45th of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
The mix runs from 31% built before 1960 to 23% built since 2000, so older neighborhoods bring aging pipe while newer subdivisions bring failed appliance lines and water heaters.
24% 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.
Renters occupy 38% of homes. If you rent, the building is usually the landlord's to repair, but your belongings are only covered by renters insurance.
Beyond water
Summer nights that don't drop below 65°F, a good marker of humid air, come about 20 times a year here, above the Wisconsin county median of 11. The EPA recommends keeping indoor humidity below 60%, ideally 30 to 50%. Basements can pass 60% on their own in summer, so a dehumidifier matters even without a leak, and anything wet should be dried within 24 to 48 hours.
Mold remediation: what to expectHeating fuel matters for fire risk. In La Crosse County it's 61% utility gas, 28% electric, 7% propane and 1% 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 La Crosse 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 La Crosse. It also has the most heavy-rain days in its area. Vernon County has the oldest housing nearby, with 58% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | La Crosse | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 31% | 31% | 40 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 53% | 54% | 45 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 23% | 21% | 26 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.2% | 4.8% | 43 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 4.7% | 12% | 63 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 8% | 33% | 63 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 69/yr | 73/yr | 41 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 9.2/yr | 6.3/yr | 1 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 90/yr | 94/yr | 59 of 72 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 20/yr | 11/yr | 9 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 La Crosse County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in May, June and July.
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