Ice dam risk in Colorado Springs, CO
Will your roof get ice dams in Colorado Springs, CO?
5.4 dam days a winter
Moderate risk. On an ordinary house in Colorado Springs, conditions for an ice dam come on about 5.4 days in a normal winter, mostly in December and January.
Colorado Springs averages 33 inches of snow a year and about 23 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 Colorado Springs
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 4.3 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 5.4 | Moderate |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 6.8 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Colorado Springs than in colder towns: there are only 1.1 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Colorado Springs 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.
Colorado Springs winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.9 | 4.4 | 1.2 |
| February | 4.6 | 4.4 | 1.2 |
| March | 5.7 | 3.0 | 0.6 |
| April | 5.5 | 1.8 | 0.2 |
| May | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| September | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| October | 2.5 | 0.9 | 0.1 |
| November | 4.4 | 3.3 | 0.7 |
| December | 4.1 | 4.5 | 1.3 |
Colorado Springs next to nearby towns
Colorado Springs ranks 51 of 53 Colorado cities here for ice-dam days, behind Steamboat Springs at 51.0 days.
- Fountain, CO 13 mi, 5.4 days
- Monument, CO 15 mi, 22.2 days
- Castle Rock, CO 36 mi, 11.5 days
- Cañon City, CO 38 mi, 5.6 days
- Castle Pines, CO 42 mi, 11.5 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Colorado Springs Municipal Airport, 5.6 miles from Colorado Springs. 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 Colorado Springs, so the snow figures may run high or low for the town itself.