Ice dam risk in Jasper, IN
Ice dams in Jasper, IN: how often
4.1 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Jasper, conditions for an ice dam come on about 4.1 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Jasper averages 14 inches of snow a year and about 17 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 Jasper
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.7 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 4.1 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 5.9 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Jasper than in colder towns: there are only 1.4 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Jasper 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.
Jasper winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.5 | 6.5 | 1.8 |
| February | 4.7 | 5.1 | 1.2 |
| March | 1.8 | 1.3 | 0.2 |
| October | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| December | 2.3 | 3.8 | 0.9 |
Jasper next to nearby towns
Jasper ranks 79 of 88 Indiana cities here for ice-dam days, behind Plymouth at 15.9 days.
- Washington, IN 22 mi, 2.0 days
- Vincennes, IN 36 mi, 2.9 days
- Bedford, IN 40 mi, 5.2 days
- Evansville, IN 43 mi, 1.6 days
- Owensboro, KY 45 mi, 2.3 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Shoals 8 S, 13.6 miles from Jasper. 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.