I've lived along the 49th parallel my whole life and have never saw that. I guess I learned early to keep things unfrozen and insulated. Now having said that this winter we will prolly freeze up tight lol.
Once upon a time when I was a bachelor I got up and headed down the mountain to Church in Oakland, then went to friends place and stayed a couple days~when I returned the was no water when I opened the tap in the kictchen~ I built a fire~as the house heated I herd a splush down stairs~ I cut the section of copper our and sweated in a patch and went up stairs~and splush~I fixed the break and went up~13 times for thirteen breaks.
Been there problem with 2nd homes winter time. Furnace broke all pipes froze, warmed up opened kitchen door to flood. My heating vents on floor filled with water.Lucky homeowners insurance covered it.
Or drain the pipes. Snowbirds shut down the home in cold climates and live in warmer climates during the winter. It's cheaper and more pleasant for them than staying home in that weather and heating the house. Some people have camps or "week-end" homes that can freeze. They have to deal with it. I don't do either.
I like passive systems of prevention. Heating is not passive, it can go out without monitoring, plus it costs money. Draining piping and tanks like water heaters is passive, they can't freeze. But it takes some work to drain them and they need to be set up so you can do that. Just shutting the water off doesn't work though it can limit water damage.
When I go visit the grandkids in winter I rely on the heat staying on to prevent that. It normally doesn't get that cold and stay cold very long and it would take a while for the house to cool off enough for anything to freeze, so I'm not too worried. I could come home to a surprise but I consider the risk manageable. But I'm normally only gone four nights/five days.