Wood County, Wisconsin · Wisconsin Rapids
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Pipes freeze in Wood County on about 79 nights a year, mostly November to April. Older homes, 35% of the stock here, are most at risk.
Basements flood here mostly in August. Wood County averages 7.3 days a year with an inch of rain or more.
Backups often follow heavy rain, which Wood County gets about 7.3 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 99 freeze-thaw days a year, from winter ice dams. Most show up as ceiling stains in the room below.
19% of occupied homes in Wood 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 7 times a year in Wood County. Mold after a leak spreads fastest from June through August.
Local risk profile
With 34,755 homes and around 74,004 residents, Wood County is 793 square miles of central Wisconsin. The county seat is Wisconsin Rapids, and Marshfield, Lake Wazeecha and Nekoosa round out the largest towns. The county's median home was built in 1972.
61/100 Water Damage Risk Index: Elevated Wood County ranks 14 of 72 Wisconsin counties. See the statewide ranking and method.The three factors where Wood County ranks highest compared with other Wisconsin counties.
For frozen pipes, Wood County is a typical Wisconsin county, which is still plenty. From 2015–2024 it averaged 79 nights a year at 20°F or colder, the range where pipes in exterior walls, crawl spaces and unheated garages freeze, and 161 nights at or below 32°F. That ranks 27th of 72 counties.
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 -31°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 14 and the last spring freeze around May 7.
Heavy rain is a bigger factor here than in most of Wisconsin. About 7.3 days a year bring an inch or more (22nd of 72), most often in August, out of 36.9 inches of total precipitation. On August 8, 2021, 3.15 inches fell in a single day. Multi-day storms matter most for basements; the wettest three days on record here totaled 4.38 inches (through August 9, 2021).
About 99 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
Wisconsin's 72 counties range widely in housing age; Wood ranks 9th, with 64% of its homes built before 1980.
Housing age is mixed: 35% of homes are pre-1960 and 16% are 2000 or newer. Ask any plumber which era your house is from and you'll know which failures to watch for.
Beyond water
Wood County averages 7 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 expectBy main heating fuel, Wood County homes break down as 63% utility gas, 14% electric, 15% propane and 5% 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 Wood County. The largest communities by population:
Population from ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates. Townships and unincorporated areas are covered too.
Nearby
Clark and Marathon get more pipe-freeze nights than Wood. Its housing is the oldest in the area by share of homes built before 1980.
By the numbers
| Factor | Wood | Wisconsin median | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Homes built before 1960 | 35% | 31% | 25 of 72 |
| Homes built before 1980 | 64% | 54% | 9 of 72 |
| Homes built 2000 or later | 16% | 21% | 68 of 72 |
| Manufactured or mobile homes | 4.5% | 4.8% | 41 of 72 |
| Vacant homes | 7.2% | 12% | 49 of 72 |
| Wood or propane heat | 19% | 33% | 52 of 72 |
| Nights at 20°F or colder | 79/yr | 73/yr | 27 of 72 |
| Days with 1 inch+ of rain | 7.3/yr | 6.3/yr | 22 of 72 |
| Freeze-thaw days | 99/yr | 94/yr | 13 of 72 |
| Muggy nights (65°F+) | 7/yr | 11/yr | 48 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 Wood County: freezing from November to April, heavy rain in May, August 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