Ice dam risk in Farmington, NM
Ice dams in Farmington, NM: how often
1.6 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Farmington, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.6 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Farmington averages 9 inches of snow a year and about 7 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 Farmington
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.4 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.6 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.9 | Low |
The attic matters less in Farmington than in colder towns: there are only 0.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Farmington roof
- 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.
Farmington winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.2 | 2.5 | 0.7 |
| February | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.4 |
| March | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| April | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 2.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 |
Farmington next to nearby towns
Farmington ranks 6 of 19 New Mexico cities here for ice-dam days, behind Gallup at 6.1 days.
- Durango, CO 39 mi, 30.8 days
- Gallup, NM 91 mi, 6.1 days
- Montrose, CO 120 mi, 10.1 days
- Española, NM 128 mi, 1.8 days
- Rio Rancho, NM 131 mi, 0.7 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Farmington Ag Sci Cnt, 8.4 miles from Farmington. 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.