Ice dam risk in Evansville, IN
Will your roof get ice dams in Evansville, IN?
1.6 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Evansville, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.6 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Evansville averages 11 inches of snow a year and about 8 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 Evansville
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.1 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.6 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 2.3 | Low |
The attic matters less in Evansville than in colder towns: there are only 0.5 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Evansville
- 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.
Evansville winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.4 | 3.0 | 0.7 |
| February | 3.1 | 2.1 | 0.4 |
| March | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| October | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 2.8 | 2.1 | 0.4 |
Evansville next to nearby towns
Evansville ranks 88 of 88 Indiana cities here for ice-dam days, behind Plymouth at 15.9 days.
- Henderson, KY 11 mi, 0.1 days
- Owensboro, KY 28 mi, 2.3 days
- Jasper, IN 43 mi, 4.1 days
- Madisonville, KY 45 mi, 0.6 days
- Vincennes, IN 48 mi, 2.9 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Evansville Regional Airport, 4.5 miles from Evansville. 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.