Ice dam risk in Charleston, WV
Will your roof get ice dams in Charleston, WV?
3.8 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Charleston, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.8 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Charleston averages 32 inches of snow a year and about 19 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 Charleston
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.7 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.8 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 5.1 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Charleston than in colder towns: there are only 1.1 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Charleston
- 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.
The conditions that make a dam rarely line up here.
Charleston winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 10.3 | 7.0 | 1.7 |
| February | 7.7 | 5.4 | 1.1 |
| March | 5.9 | 2.5 | 0.3 |
| April | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 1.5 | 0.6 | 0.1 |
| December | 5.0 | 3.4 | 0.6 |
Charleston next to nearby towns
Charleston ranks 9 of 13 West Virginia cities here for ice-dam days, behind Weirton at 10.4 days.
- South Charleston, WV 4 mi, 3.8 days
- St. Albans, WV 10 mi, 4.0 days
- Huntington, WV 44 mi, 1.4 days
- Beckley, WV 47 mi, 7.8 days
- Ashland, KY 55 mi, 1.5 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Charleston - Yeager Airport, 3.1 miles from Charleston. 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.