Ice dam risk in Parkersburg, WV
Ice dams in Parkersburg, WV: how often
3.5 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Parkersburg, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.5 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Parkersburg averages 11 inches of snow a year and about 15 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 Parkersburg
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.3 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.5 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 5.0 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Parkersburg than in colder towns: there are only 1.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Parkersburg
- 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.
Parkersburg winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.5 | 7.1 | 1.8 |
| February | 3.3 | 3.9 | 0.9 |
| March | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.2 |
| November | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| December | 1.3 | 2.4 | 0.5 |
Parkersburg next to nearby towns
Parkersburg ranks 11 of 13 West Virginia cities here for ice-dam days, behind Weirton at 10.4 days.
- Vienna, WV 4 mi, 3.5 days
- Marietta, OH 12 mi, 3.7 days
- Athens, OH 30 mi, 5.2 days
- Cambridge, OH 53 mi, 6.5 days
- Zanesville, OH 54 mi, 8.0 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Parkersburg, 1.6 miles from Parkersburg. 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.