Ice dam risk in Guthrie, OK
How often ice dams form in Guthrie
1.2 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Guthrie, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.2 days in a normal winter, mostly in December and January.
Guthrie averages 7 inches of snow a year and about 6 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 Guthrie
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.0 | Very unlikely |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.2 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.4 | Low |
The attic matters less in Guthrie than in colder towns: there are only 0.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Guthrie
- 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.
Guthrie winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.4 | 1.9 | 0.4 |
| February | 1.7 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
| March | 1.1 | 0.5 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 1.8 | 2.3 | 0.4 |
Guthrie next to nearby towns
Guthrie ranks 7 of 45 Oklahoma cities here for ice-dam days, behind Woodward at 2.0 days.
- Edmond, OK 14 mi, 1.2 days
- Stillwater, OK 26 mi, 0.4 days
- Warr Acres, OK 27 mi, 0.8 days
- Choctaw, OK 28 mi, 0.8 days
- Bethany, OK 29 mi, 0.8 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Guthrie 5S, 4.2 miles from Guthrie. 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.