Ice dam risk in Sedalia, MO
Will your roof get ice dams in Sedalia, MO?
3.0 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Sedalia, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.0 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Sedalia averages 13 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 Sedalia
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.9 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.0 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 4.4 | Low |
The attic matters less in Sedalia than in colder towns: there are only 1.1 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Sedalia 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.
Sedalia winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 4.9 | 4.8 | 1.5 |
| February | 2.7 | 3.1 | 0.8 |
| March | 1.7 | 0.9 | 0.1 |
| April | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| October | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 |
| December | 3.2 | 2.2 | 0.6 |
Sedalia next to nearby towns
Sedalia ranks 58 of 80 Missouri cities here for ice-dam days, behind Maryville at 9.3 days.
- Warrensburg, MO 27 mi, 4.8 days
- Marshall, MO 28 mi, 2.0 days
- Columbia, MO 52 mi, 4.6 days
- Grain Valley, MO 57 mi, 5.2 days
- Jefferson City, MO 58 mi, 4.1 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Sedalia Wtp, 2.2 miles from Sedalia. 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.