Ice dam risk in Bowling Green, KY
Will your roof get ice dams in Bowling Green, KY?
1.0 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Bowling Green, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.0 day in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Bowling Green averages 9 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 Bowling Green
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 0.8 | Very unlikely |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.0 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.3 | Low |
The attic matters less in Bowling Green 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 Bowling Green
- 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.
Bowling Green winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.2 | 2.4 | 0.5 |
| February | 2.9 | 1.9 | 0.3 |
| March | 1.4 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| April | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.1 |
Bowling Green next to nearby towns
Bowling Green ranks 34 of 42 Kentucky cities here for ice-dam days, behind Fort Thomas at 6.8 days.
- Franklin, KY 19 mi, 0.1 days
- Portland, TN 27 mi, 0.1 days
- Glasgow, KY 28 mi, 0.9 days
- White House, TN 38 mi, 0.6 days
- Gallatin, TN 41 mi, 0.8 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Bowling Green Warren County Airport, 1.0 miles from Bowling Green. 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.