![]() ![]() BETTER CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES TO MINIMIZE ICE DAMS In case ice dams still form, several products also minimize the impacts of the flooding caused by an ice dam. Homeowners should consider three factors for preventing ice dams: better construction practices, products that reduce ice dam risk on roofs, and efforts to manually remove snow from roofs. We would expect to find a similar pattern for portions of Canada and Russia, where extreme cold sets in for several months each winter. During this time, average high temperatures are in the mid-20s to mid-30s, a considerable warm up from January, when the average high temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Ryan Tipton, a roofing expert with A&A Roofing Company in Fairbanks, Alaska, noted that most ice dam problems found in Interior Alaska occur in March or April. This temperature differential can lead to ice dam formation.įor areas that observe extreme cold in the winter, ice dams may be more likely to form in March or April, when snowpack remains on rooftops, but outside temperatures are closer to freezing, providing greater potential for freezing and thawing. However, in the Intermountain West, stronger winter sunshine often melts snow on one part of the roof, while areas in the shade remain below freezing. In the cloudy Great Lakes region, for example, most of the differential in roof temperature will come from inadequate insulation, which enables portions of a roof to thaw. The geography of the processes for ice dam formation canal so vary regionally, depending on the amount of sunshine that is usually observed during the winter months. ![]() Also, snow cover is a necessary factor for forming ice dams-a dry location with little or no snow cover will not have problems with ice dams, even if they observe a long stretch of sub-freezing temperatures. If a location observes a high temperature of 33 degrees Fahrenheit, the clock is reset for this calculation, even though little snow and ice has melted if the weather was cloudy at that time. Readers should note that a national map of consecutive sub-freezing temperatures does not tell us everything we need to know about ice dam formation risk. This map was created from data on June 9, 2021, and does not represent current conditions. Map of the greatest number of consecutive hours at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit. The data were last updated in June 2021, as of the time this article was published, but presumably these data will be updated again soon, as the winter season 2021–2022 is just getting under way, and other data layers on the system are up-to-date. Mike Kampnich, a roofing expert based in Watertown, New York, along the Canadian border, clarifies, “ice dams cannot form in a week or two, they need at least three weeks for the ice to build up.”Ĭlimatology on the average number of days with sub-freezing temperatures can be hard to find, but the Midwestern Regional Climate Center’s Vegetation Impact Program provides an interactive mapping platform to visualize these data. ![]() The good news about ice dams is that they take time to build up, so they do not typically form in parts of the country that observe sub-freezing weather for short duration, like the southern states. The water then ran down the walls for two stories to the basement, where it pooled on the floor. In the case of the flood at my childhood home, dammed water was forced to flow upslope, working its way under shingles and getting into the walls of the house. An ice dam that formed near the edge of a roof. ![]()
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