Ice dam risk in Lynchburg, VA
How often ice dams form in Lynchburg
2.8 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Lynchburg, conditions for an ice dam come on about 2.8 days in a normal winter, mostly in February and January.
Lynchburg averages 12 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 Lynchburg
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.5 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 2.8 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 3.1 | Low |
The attic matters less in Lynchburg than in colder towns: there are only 0.3 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Lynchburg 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.
Lynchburg winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.8 | 3.7 | 0.9 |
| February | 4.2 | 4.8 | 1.1 |
| March | 1.6 | 0.9 | 0.1 |
| December | 2.8 | 3.3 | 0.7 |
Lynchburg next to nearby towns
Lynchburg ranks 13 of 39 Virginia cities here for ice-dam days, behind Winchester at 4.7 days.
- Roanoke, VA 43 mi, 1.7 days
- Salem, VA 48 mi, 1.7 days
- Waynesboro, VA 49 mi, 3.9 days
- Staunton, VA 53 mi, 3.9 days
- Danville, VA 58 mi, 0.8 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Lynchburg #2, 2.4 miles from Lynchburg. 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.