Ice dam risk in Lawrence, KS
Ice dams in Lawrence, KS: how often
3.1 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Lawrence, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.1 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Lawrence averages 10 inches of snow a year and about 13 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 Lawrence
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.0 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.1 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 4.5 | Low |
The attic matters less in Lawrence than in colder towns: there are only 1.1 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Lawrence
- 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.
Lawrence winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.1 | 5.4 | 1.6 |
| February | 3.3 | 3.3 | 0.8 |
| March | 0.8 | 0.9 | 0.1 |
| April | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 2.9 | 2.4 | 0.6 |
Lawrence next to nearby towns
Lawrence ranks 25 of 38 Kansas cities here for ice-dam days, behind Salina at 5.8 days.
- Gardner, KS 21 mi, 4.4 days
- Topeka, KS 24 mi, 4.5 days
- Olathe, KS 25 mi, 4.4 days
- Lenexa, KS 25 mi, 4.4 days
- Ottawa, KS 25 mi, 2.9 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Lawrence, 0.8 miles from Lawrence. 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.