Ice dam risk in Steamboat Springs, CO
Will your roof get ice dams in Steamboat Springs, CO?
51.0 dam days a winter
Severe risk. On an ordinary house in Steamboat Springs, conditions for an ice dam come on about 51.0 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and December.
Steamboat Springs averages 185 inches of snow a year and about 151 days with snow on the ground. Snow that lies that long is what turns a little attic heat into a ridge of ice at the eave. 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 Steamboat Springs
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 28.2 | High |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 51.0 | Severe |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 79.4 | Severe |
Sealing and insulating a typical attic takes out about 22.8 days a winter here. It drops the risk from severe to high. An older house with a warm attic should expect closer to 79.4 days.
What to do about ice dams in Steamboat Springs
- Air-seal the attic floor: the gaps around the hatch, light fixtures, plumbing stacks and the top plates of interior walls. This is the fix that removes the cause, and it usually costs less than a season of contractor ice removal.
- Rake the bottom three or four feet of roof after any storm that leaves more than about six inches, from the ground with a roof rake.
- At the next reroof, ask for ice-and-water membrane under the shingles from the eave to at least 24 inches inside the wall line. It does not stop a dam; it stops the leak when one forms.
- Heat cable is worth pricing here even on a sealed house, along the eave and in the gutters and downspouts it drains into.
Running 60 feet of 5 W/ft cable whenever snow lies below freezing would use about 410 kWh a winter in Steamboat Springs, roughly $70 at 17 cents a kWh.
Which to spend on first: air sealing or heat cable.
Steamboat Springs winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46.6 | 31.0 | 12.8 |
| February | 35.7 | 28.5 | 9.8 |
| March | 19.5 | 27.0 | 7.3 |
| April | 13.2 | 9.3 | 2.2 |
| May | 2.8 | 1.0 | 0.1 |
| June | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| September | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| October | 6.9 | 3.9 | 0.9 |
| November | 23.3 | 19.4 | 5.7 |
| December | 35.8 | 30.2 | 12.2 |
Steamboat Springs next to nearby towns
Steamboat Springs ranks 1 of 53 Colorado cities here for ice-dam days, the worst in the state.
- Glenwood Springs, CO 70 mi, 15.9 days
- Rifle, CO 82 mi, 16.6 days
- Laramie, WY 86 mi, 32.6 days
- Boulder, CO 89 mi, 11.4 days
- Fort Collins, CO 92 mi, 10.5 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Steamboat Springs, 0.9 miles from Steamboat Springs. 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 Steamboat Springs, so the snow figures may run high or low for the town itself.