Ice dam risk in Santa Fe, NM
How often ice dams form in Santa Fe
2.2 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Santa Fe, conditions for an ice dam come on about 2.2 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and December.
Santa Fe averages 20 inches of snow a year and about 9 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 Santa Fe
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 2.0 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 2.2 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 2.5 | Low |
The attic matters less in Santa Fe than in colder towns: there are only 0.2 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
What to do about ice dams in Santa Fe
- 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.
Santa Fe winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.7 | 2.9 | 0.8 |
| February | 2.4 | 1.8 | 0.4 |
| March | 3.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 |
| April | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| October | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| November | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| December | 6.8 | 2.6 | 0.7 |
Santa Fe next to nearby towns
Santa Fe ranks 3 of 19 New Mexico cities here for ice-dam days, behind Gallup at 6.1 days.
- Española, NM 24 mi, 1.8 days
- Las Vegas, NM 43 mi, 2.8 days
- Rio Rancho, NM 48 mi, 0.7 days
- Albuquerque, NM 54 mi, 0.6 days
- Los Lunas, NM 75 mi, 0.3 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Santa Fe 2, 3.0 miles from Santa Fe. 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.