Ice dam risk in Ozark, MO
Will your roof get ice dams in Ozark, MO?
3.9 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Ozark, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.9 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and December.
Ozark averages 7 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 Ozark
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 3.0 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.9 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 5.0 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Ozark than in colder towns: there are only 0.9 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Ozark 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.
Ozark winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.8 | 6.9 | 1.8 |
| February | 3.2 | 3.6 | 0.8 |
| March | 0.4 | 1.4 | 0.2 |
| December | 0.4 | 5.0 | 1.1 |
Ozark next to nearby towns
Ozark ranks 31 of 80 Missouri cities here for ice-dam days, behind Maryville at 9.3 days.
- Nixa, MO 4 mi, 2.8 days
- Springfield, MO 12 mi, 2.7 days
- Republic, MO 14 mi, 2.7 days
- Branson, MO 29 mi, 1.5 days
- Monett, MO 40 mi, 2.0 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Ozark, 1.3 miles from Ozark. 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.