Walworth County, Wisconsin · Elkhorn
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With 30% of homes built before 1960 and about 54 hard-freeze nights a year, frozen and split pipes are a leading winter risk in the county.
Basements flood here mostly in July. Walworth County averages 6.9 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
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.
Walworth County's wettest day in the 2015–2024 record brought 3.64 inches, and about 90 freeze-thaw days a year mean ice dams in some winters.
8% of occupied homes in Walworth 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 Walworth County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
Walworth County covers 555 square miles of southeast Wisconsin, with about 105,657 residents and 54,124 homes. Elkhorn is the county seat; Whitewater, Delavan and Lake Geneva are the next largest communities. Half the homes here were built before 1977, half after.
42/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Moderate Walworth County ranks 54 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Walworth County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
Winters here are on the gentler end for Wisconsin, and pipes still freeze. In the 2015–2024 record the county logged about 54 nights a year at or below 20°F (68th of 72) and 137 below freezing. Twenty degrees is roughly where uninsulated pipes start to freeze.
The longest cold spell was straight 23 days without the temperature rising above freezing, ending in March 2015. The coldest night reached about -28°F on January 31, 2019. Burst pipes usually show up when a spell like that breaks and the ice thaws.
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.
Freezing nights typically start around Oct 21 and end around May 3.
Rainfall is about average for Wisconsin. About 6.9 days a year bring an inch or more (28th of 72), most often in July, out of 38.6 inches of total precipitation. On September 12, 2022, 3.64 inches fell in a single day. The worst three-day stretch dropped 4.42 inches, ending September 13, 2022, the kind of soaking that overwhelms sump pumps and storm sewers.
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
Roughly 54% of the county's housing was built before 1980. That puts Walworth near the middle of Wisconsin's 72 counties.
The mix runs from 30% 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.
20% of homes were vacant at survey time. A leak in an empty rental or seasonal house can run for days before anyone notices, which is why those losses tend to be larger.
Renters occupy 29% 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
Walworth County averages 20 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 expectMain heating fuel in Walworth County's occupied homes: 75% utility gas, 15% electric, 7% propane and under 1% 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 Walworth County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Jefferson, Rock and Waukesha get more pipe-freeze nights than Walworth. Racine County has the oldest housing nearby, with 66% of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Walworth | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 30% | 31% | 42 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 54% | 54% | 38 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 23% | 21% | 28 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 2.4% | 4.8% | 61 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 20% | 12% | 25 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 7.8% | 33% | 64 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 54/yr | 73/yr | 68 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 6.9/yr | 6.3/yr | 28 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 Walworth County: freezing from November to March, heavy rain in July, September and October.
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