Ice dam risk in Great Bend, KS
Will your roof get ice dams in Great Bend, KS?
4.6 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Great Bend, conditions for an ice dam come on about 4.6 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and December.
Great Bend averages 12 inches of snow a year and about 19 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 Great Bend
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 3.4 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 4.6 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 6.1 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Great Bend than in colder towns: there are only 1.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Great Bend
- 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.
Great Bend winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.2 | 6.4 | 1.8 |
| February | 2.6 | 4.4 | 1.1 |
| March | 2.3 | 1.9 | 0.3 |
| April | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.2 |
| December | 2.3 | 4.8 | 1.3 |
Great Bend next to nearby towns
Great Bend ranks 11 of 38 Kansas cities here for ice-dam days, behind Salina at 5.8 days.
- Hays, KS 46 mi, 2.5 days
- Hutchinson, KS 53 mi, 3.4 days
- McPherson, KS 61 mi, 4.6 days
- Salina, KS 71 mi, 5.8 days
- Dodge City, KS 78 mi, 4.1 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Great Bend 3WNW, 1.3 miles from Great Bend. 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.