Ice dam risk in Bella Vista, AR
Ice dams in Bella Vista, AR: how often
1.2 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Bella Vista, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.2 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Bella Vista averages 10 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 Bella Vista
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.0 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.2 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.5 | Low |
The attic matters less in Bella Vista than in colder towns: there are only 0.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Bella Vista roof
- 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.
Bella Vista winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.2 | 2.3 | 0.5 |
| February | 2.3 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
| March | 2.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 |
| November | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 1.2 | 1.4 | 0.3 |
Bella Vista next to nearby towns
Bella Vista ranks 4 of 39 Arkansas cities here for ice-dam days, behind Springdale at 1.2 days.
- Centerton, AR 8 mi, 1.2 days
- Bentonville, AR 8 mi, 1.2 days
- Pea Ridge, AR 8 mi, 1.2 days
- Rogers, AR 12 mi, 1.2 days
- Lowell, AR 16 mi, 1.2 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Bentonville 4 S, 10.4 miles from Bella Vista. 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.