Ice dam risk in Ridgecrest, CA
Will your roof get ice dams in Ridgecrest, CA?
0.0 dam days a winter
Almost never. An ordinary house in Ridgecrest sees 0.0 days a winter when an ice dam can form, because snow rarely stays on a roof long enough below freezing.
Ridgecrest averages 1 inch of snow a year and about 0 days with snow on the ground. Too little lies on the roof for long. The conditions that make a dam need all three at once: snow, cold at the eave and heat above it.
Do you need to do anything in Ridgecrest?
- Nothing for ice dams. If you are buying here and an inspector mentions water at the eaves, ask what they saw: it is far more likely a gutter, flashing or drip-edge problem than ice.
Snowy places are not always the worst: why snowfall misleads.
Ridgecrest winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| December | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Ridgecrest next to nearby towns
Ridgecrest ranks 256 of 376 California cities here for ice-dam days, behind Truckee at 36.3 days.
- California City, CA 35 mi, 0.0 days
- Tehachapi, CA 55 mi, 0.0 days
- Barstow, CA 63 mi, 0.0 days
- Lancaster, CA 71 mi, 0.0 days
- Arvin, CA 72 mi, 0.0 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Inyokern, 9.0 miles from Ridgecrest. 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.
- The nearest weather station sits at a noticeably different elevation from Ridgecrest, so the snow figures may run high or low for the town itself.