Ice dam risk in Ashland, KY
Ice dams in Ashland, KY: how often
1.5 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Ashland, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.5 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Ashland averages 6 inches of snow a year and about 6 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 Ashland
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.0 | Very unlikely |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.5 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 2.0 | Low |
The attic matters less in Ashland than in colder towns: there are only 0.5 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Ashland
- 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.
Ashland winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.2 | 3.5 | 0.9 |
| February | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.3 |
| March | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| November | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.2 |
Ashland next to nearby towns
Ashland ranks 31 of 42 Kentucky cities here for ice-dam days, behind Fort Thomas at 6.8 days.
- Ironton, OH 5 mi, 1.5 days
- Huntington, WV 12 mi, 1.4 days
- Portsmouth, OH 26 mi, 4.8 days
- St. Albans, WV 45 mi, 4.0 days
- South Charleston, WV 51 mi, 3.8 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from S Pt, 3.7 miles from Ashland. 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.
- Snow-on-the-ground counts come from a second, nearby station, because the closest one does not record them.