Ice dam risk in Bel Air, MD
Ice dams in Bel Air, MD: how often
3.4 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Bel Air, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.4 days in a normal winter, mostly in February and January.
Bel Air averages 18 inches of snow a year and about 14 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 Bel Air
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.6 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.4 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 4.4 | Low |
The attic matters less in Bel Air than in colder towns: there are only 0.8 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Bel Air
- 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.
Bel Air winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.0 | 4.7 | 1.3 |
| February | 7.1 | 5.0 | 1.3 |
| March | 2.6 | 2.1 | 0.3 |
| April | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 3.0 | 2.2 | 0.5 |
Bel Air next to nearby towns
Bel Air ranks 9 of 23 Maryland cities here for ice-dam days, behind Hagerstown at 12.1 days.
- Aberdeen, MD 9 mi, 3.4 days
- Havre de Grace, MD 12 mi, 3.4 days
- Baltimore, MD 22 mi, 2.7 days
- Elkton, MD 28 mi, 3.5 days
- Newark, DE 33 mi, 3.5 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Octoraro Lake, 24.1 miles from Bel Air. 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.