Ice dam risk in Asheville, NC
Ice dams in Asheville, NC: how often
1.1 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Asheville, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.1 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and December.
Asheville averages 12 inches of snow a year and about 7 days with snow on the ground. Most of it comes and goes within a few days. The conditions that make a dam need all three at once: snow, cold at the eave and heat above it.
What your attic does to that number in Asheville
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 0.9 | Very unlikely |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.1 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.3 | Low |
The attic matters less in Asheville than in colder towns: there are only 0.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Asheville
- Check the gutters before the first snow and clear them, so meltwater has somewhere to go. If you see icicles thicker than a finger along the eave after a storm, that is the early sign to look at the attic.
Snowy places are not always the worst: why snowfall misleads.
Asheville winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.8 | 2.6 | 0.5 |
| February | 2.2 | 1.6 | 0.2 |
| March | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| April | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 2.7 | 2.0 | 0.3 |
Asheville next to nearby towns
Asheville ranks 6 of 91 North Carolina cities here for ice-dam days, behind Boone at 4.9 days.
- Hendersonville, NC 18 mi, 0.3 days
- Waynesville, NC 26 mi, 1.6 days
- Greeneville, TN 44 mi, 1.2 days
- Greer, SC 48 mi, 0.3 days
- Morganton, NC 49 mi, 0.4 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Asheville, 1.7 miles from Asheville. A dam day is a day with snow on the roof and freezing at the eave while heat or sun melts the snow above it. This describes a normal winter, not this one.