Be Reachable.

Is Your Plumbing Company Open Christmas Week?

Fayetteville hit 20°F or colder over Christmas week in 28 of the last 30 winters. Here's what Google shows when a plumber's holiday hours are blank.

By ChadNov 9, 202611 min read

If you're a plumber in Northwest Arkansas, here's something worth knowing: in 28 of the last 30 winters, Fayetteville's Drake Field dropped to 20°F or colder at least once between December 20 and January 2 (my count of NOAA daily records, 1996–2025). In 10 of those winters it fell to 10°F or below.

The coldest stretch of the year for pipes is also the stretch when most offices close early or not at all. A homeowner in Bentonville who finds water coming through the kitchen ceiling on December 26 searches for a plumber on their phone, and the first thing they check next to each name is whether that company looks open. What Google shows them depends partly on whether you've told it your holiday hours.

In October I wrote about who answers on the first cold night, when the first hard freeze tests every furnace and every exposed pipe in town. This post is about the other cold stretch, the one that lands on the holidays.

Key Takeaways

In 28 of the last 30 winters, Fayetteville hit 20°F or colder at least once between December 20 and January 2 (NOAA daily records, 1996–2025)

State Farm paid more than 628 million dollars on over 20,000 frozen-pipe and winter water damage claims from 2024 through June 2025, an average of more than 30,000 dollars a claim (State Farm, 2026)

When Google introduced holiday hours, it said listings without them could show searchers a warning that hours may differ because of the holiday (Google Maps blog, 2015)

Google recommends confirming holiday hours even when they're the same as your regular hours (Google Business Profile Help)

Thanksgiving is November 26. Set every holiday date through New Year's Day in one sitting, before then

A split copper pipe spraying water across a crawl space under a house, lit by a work light, with frost on the pipe and pink insulation overhead. — The pipes that freeze first are the ones nobody looks at, under the floor and inside the outside walls.

01Why Christmas Week Is Hard on Pipes

A cold snap at the end of December isn't bad luck in Northwest Arkansas. It's the normal pattern. Across the last 30 winters, Fayetteville went through the two weeks from December 20 to January 2 without a 20°F night only twice, in 1997 and 2019.

Coldest Low Between December 20 and January 2, Fayetteville, 1996–2025

Source: NOAA daily records for Fayetteville Drake Field, via the Applied Climate Information System; my count. Each bar runs from 32°F down to that winter's coldest low. The dashed line marks 20°F.

December 2022 is the one most plumbers here remember. The low at Drake Field was −3°F on both December 22 and 23, the high on the 23rd only reached 14°F, and it was still 6°F on Christmas Eve morning and 9°F on Christmas Day (NOAA daily records). That's four mornings in a row at single digits or below zero, and the last two fell on a Saturday and a Sunday, when a lot of offices were already shut for the holiday.

The pipes that freeze first are usually the ones near outside walls, in crawl spaces or in the attic (University of Illinois Extension). Those are also the pipes nobody looks at until something goes wrong. A family away for the holidays may not find a burst line until they get home.

When they do, the bill is large. From 2024 through June 2025, State Farm paid more than 628 million dollars on over 20,000 frozen-pipe and winter water damage claims, and the average claim payment was more than 30,000 dollars (State Farm, January 2026). A homeowner looking at that kind of damage isn't comparing reviews. They're calling whoever looks like they'll pick up.

02What a Homeowner Sees When Your Holiday Hours Are Blank

When Google introduced holiday hours in 2015, it explained what happens when a business skips them: "If you search for a business and the holiday hours aren't listed, you'll see a warning message alerting you that the actual hours may be different because of the holiday" (Google Maps blog, 2015). That warning appears when a major holiday is within the next seven days.

Google's current help page makes the same point from the owner's side. It recommends confirming your hours for official holidays "even if they're the same as your regular hours," because doing so "makes it clear to customers that your special hours are accurate" (Google Business Profile Help).

Picture what that means on Christmas Eve. Two plumbing companies in Springdale show up next to each other. One has confirmed holiday hours. The other may carry Google's note that its hours could be different today. The homeowner standing in an inch of water doesn't call the second one to find out.

Nothing here is about where you rank. It's about whether the person who already found you believes you'll answer, which is the part of the customer journey I call Be Reachable. For plumbing in December, it's often the part that decides who gets the job.

Water dripping from a stained kitchen ceiling into a puddle across the tile floor, with a Christmas tree in the living room beyond. — Whoever looks open on Christmas Eve gets the call. A confirmed holiday date is part of looking open.

03How to Set Holiday Hours on Google

This takes one sitting, and the sitting to do it in is before Thanksgiving, so every date through New Year's Day is covered at once. If you haven't been inside your profile in a while, the Google Business Profile setup guide walks through every field.

Check your regular hours first — Special hours only show when your profile is set to "Open with main hours," so make sure your normal weekly hours are filled in before you add anything else (Google Business Profile Help).
Open Special hours — In your profile, go to Edit profile, then Hours, then Special hours, and add each holiday date with the hours you'll actually keep that day.
Confirm the days you're open, too — If you're working normal hours the Friday after Thanksgiving or the day after Christmas, enter them anyway. A confirmed date tells the customer you checked.
Cover the whole stretch — Thanksgiving on November 26, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Special hours are built for closures of six days in a row or fewer (Google), which fits every one of these.
Say how emergencies reach you — If the office is closed on Christmas Day but you'll still go out for a burst pipe, list the hours you really answer, or keep the office hours and say in your business description how a customer with water on the floor can reach someone.

04When the Call Comes on Christmas Eve

Holiday hours tell the homeowner you're there. The phone has to back that up. 48% of calls to home-service businesses go unanswered (Invoca, 2026), and of the missed business calls Quo analyzed, 69% got no callback within 48 hours (Quo, 2026). Over a holiday weekend, 48 hours can be the whole weekend.

If you're closed on Christmas Day, your voicemail should say so and name the time you'll call back, and that callback has to happen when you said it would. If you're open, make sure the call rings somewhere a person will hear it, not a desk phone in an empty shop in Rogers. I covered what happens to enquiries nobody sees in more detail in the contact form that goes nowhere.

05Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to set holiday hours if I'm open my normal hours?

Yes. Google's help page recommends confirming your hours for official holidays even when they match your regular hours, so customers can see they're accurate. When Google introduced holiday hours in 2015, it said a listing without them could show searchers a warning that the actual hours may be different because of the holiday.

Why don't my holiday hours show on Google?

Special hours only appear when your profile is set to open with main hours, so check that your regular weekly hours are filled in first. Then add each holiday date under Hours, then Special hours. Google's special hours are meant for closures of six days in a row or fewer, not a long seasonal shutdown.

How cold does it get in Northwest Arkansas over Christmas?

In 28 of the last 30 winters, Fayetteville's Drake Field recorded at least one low of 20°F or colder between December 20 and January 2, and in 10 of them it fell to 10°F or below, by my count of NOAA daily records. December 22 and 23, 2022 both bottomed out at −3°F.

Which pipes in a house freeze first?

Pipes near outside walls, in crawl spaces and in attics are usually the most exposed, according to University of Illinois Extension. Those are also the pipes a homeowner rarely sees, so a freeze overnight often isn't noticed until the pipe thaws and starts leaking, sometimes days later if the family is away for the holidays.

06What to Do Right Now

Open your Google Business Profile today and add special hours for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, including the days you'll keep your normal hours. Then search "plumber" and your town on your phone and see what Google says next to your name.

If those dates are blank, a homeowner with water on the floor may see a warning next to your name and call the plumber whose hours are confirmed instead. I go through your listing, your after-hours phone setup and the rest of the chain by hand and tell you which is actually costing you the most.

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