Ice dam risk in Cañon City, CO
How often ice dams form in Cañon City
5.6 dam days a winter
Moderate risk. On an ordinary house in Cañon City, conditions for an ice dam come on about 5.6 days in a normal winter, mostly in December and February.
Cañon City averages 38 inches of snow a year and about 26 days with snow on the ground. Plenty falls, but it tends to melt off between storms, which keeps the count lower than the snowfall suggests. That gap is why snowfall alone misleads.
What your attic does to that number in Cañon City
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 4.7 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 5.6 | Moderate |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 6.6 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Cañon City than in colder towns: there are only 0.9 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Cañon City roof
- Rake the bottom three or four feet of roof after any storm that leaves more than about six inches, from the ground with a roof rake.
More on when a roof rake is worth it.
Cañon City winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 6.7 | 5.2 | 1.3 |
| February | 6.2 | 5.4 | 1.3 |
| March | 6.0 | 2.8 | 0.5 |
| April | 4.1 | 1.4 | 0.1 |
| May | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| September | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 3.3 | 1.3 | 0.1 |
| November | 5.1 | 3.3 | 0.6 |
| December | 6.2 | 6.5 | 1.6 |
Cañon City next to nearby towns
Cañon City ranks 50 of 53 Colorado cities here for ice-dam days, behind Steamboat Springs at 51.0 days.
- Fountain, CO 34 mi, 5.4 days
- Pueblo, CO 35 mi, 1.7 days
- Colorado Springs, CO 38 mi, 5.4 days
- Monument, CO 48 mi, 22.2 days
- Castle Rock, CO 68 mi, 11.5 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Canon City, 1.3 miles from Cañon City. 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.
- The nearest weather station sits at a noticeably different elevation from Cañon City, so the snow figures may run high or low for the town itself.