Ice dam risk in Somers Point, NJ

Will your roof get ice dams in Somers Point, NJ?

2.0 dam days a winter

Low risk. On an ordinary house in Somers Point, conditions for an ice dam come on about 2.0 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.

Somers Point averages 17 inches of snow a year and about 10 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 Somers Point

Attic	Dam days	Risk
Air-sealed and well insulated	1.6	Low
Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed	2.0	Low
Older or poorly insulated, warm attic	2.6	Low

The attic matters less in Somers Point than in colder towns: there are only 0.4 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.

What to do about ice dams in Somers Point

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.

Somers Point winter, month by month

Month	Snow (in)	Days on ground	Dam days
January	5.7	3.6	0.8
February	5.9	3.6	0.8
March	2.2	1.3	0.2
April	0.3	0.0	0.0
November	0.1	0.1	0.0
December	3.2	1.3	0.2

Somers Point next to nearby towns

Somers Point ranks 116 of 116 New Jersey cities here for ice-dam days, behind Hopatcong at 14.7 days.

Ocean City, NJ 3 mi, 2.0 days
Pleasantville, NJ 7 mi, 2.0 days
Atlantic City, NJ 9 mi, 2.0 days
Vineland, NJ 23 mi, 3.4 days
Millville, NJ 24 mi, 3.1 days

Where these numbers come from

NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Atlantic City International Airport, 9.5 miles from Somers Point. 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.