Ice dam risk in Junction City, KS
How often ice dams form in Junction City
5.7 dam days a winter
Moderate risk. On an ordinary house in Junction City, conditions for an ice dam come on about 5.7 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and December.
Junction City averages 7 inches of snow a year and about 20 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 Junction City
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 3.9 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 5.7 | Moderate |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 8.0 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Junction City than in colder towns: there are only 1.8 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Junction City 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.
Junction City winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.1 | 7.6 | 2.4 |
| February | 1.5 | 5.4 | 1.5 |
| March | 1.1 | 1.1 | 0.2 |
| April | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
| December | 1.0 | 5.5 | 1.5 |
Junction City next to nearby towns
Junction City ranks 2 of 38 Kansas cities here for ice-dam days, behind Salina at 5.8 days.
- Manhattan, KS 17 mi, 5.4 days
- Salina, KS 44 mi, 5.8 days
- Emporia, KS 56 mi, 4.4 days
- Topeka, KS 62 mi, 4.5 days
- McPherson, KS 63 mi, 4.6 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Chapman, 9.8 miles from Junction City. 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.
- Snow-on-the-ground counts come from a second, nearby station, because the closest one does not record them.