Ice dam risk in Barnstable Town, MA
Will your roof get ice dams in Barnstable Town, MA?
3.7 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Barnstable Town, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.7 days in a normal winter, mostly in February and January.
Barnstable Town averages 22 inches of snow a year and about 16 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 Barnstable Town
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.7 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.7 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 5.1 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Barnstable Town than in colder towns: there are only 1.0 day a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Barnstable Town
- 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.
Barnstable Town winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.5 | 5.4 | 1.4 |
| February | 6.3 | 6.6 | 1.6 |
| March | 3.6 | 2.7 | 0.4 |
| December | 2.1 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
Barnstable Town next to nearby towns
Barnstable Town ranks 58 of 58 Massachusetts cities here for ice-dam days, behind Pittsfield at 31.3 days.
- New Bedford, MA 30 mi, 6.8 days
- Fall River, MA 38 mi, 7.2 days
- Bridgewater Town, MA 39 mi, 7.6 days
- Taunton, MA 42 mi, 8.2 days
- Brockton, MA 45 mi, 7.6 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Hyannis, 2.7 miles from Barnstable Town. 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.