Ice dam risk in Canyon, TX
Will your roof get ice dams in Canyon, TX?
1.0 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Canyon, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.0 day in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Canyon averages 8 inches of snow a year and about 5 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 Canyon
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 0.9 | Very unlikely |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.0 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.1 | Low |
The attic matters less in Canyon than in colder towns: there are only 0.1 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Canyon
- 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.
Canyon winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 1.8 | 1.9 | 0.4 |
| February | 0.8 | 1.3 | 0.3 |
| March | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| April | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| December | 2.1 | 1.0 | 0.2 |
Canyon next to nearby towns
Canyon ranks 6 of 252 Texas cities here for ice-dam days, behind Pampa at 2.6 days.
- Amarillo, TX 15 mi, 2.0 days
- Hereford, TX 30 mi, 2.5 days
- Borger, TX 55 mi, 1.5 days
- Plainview, TX 56 mi, 1.0 days
- Dumas, TX 60 mi, 1.0 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Canyon, 0.8 miles from Canyon. 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.