Ice dam risk in Moberly, MO
Will your roof get ice dams in Moberly, MO?
2.9 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Moberly, conditions for an ice dam come on about 2.9 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Moberly averages 15 inches of snow a year and about 11 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 Moberly
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.7 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 2.9 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 4.3 | Low |
The attic matters less in Moberly than in colder towns: there are only 1.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Moberly 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.
Moberly winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.6 | 4.4 | 1.3 |
| February | 3.2 | 4.1 | 1.0 |
| March | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| April | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 4.0 | 1.9 | 0.5 |
Moberly next to nearby towns
Moberly ranks 59 of 80 Missouri cities here for ice-dam days, behind Maryville at 9.3 days.
- Columbia, MO 33 mi, 4.6 days
- Mexico, MO 35 mi, 6.3 days
- Marshall, MO 46 mi, 2.0 days
- Fulton, MO 47 mi, 6.3 days
- Kirksville, MO 54 mi, 7.9 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Moberly, 1.0 miles from Moberly. 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.