Ice dam risk in Wabash, IN

How often ice dams form in Wabash

12.7 dam days a winter

Moderate risk. On an ordinary house in Wabash, conditions for an ice dam come on about 12.7 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.

Wabash averages 20 inches of snow a year and about 44 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 Wabash

Attic	Dam days	Risk
Air-sealed and well insulated	7.1	Moderate
Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed	12.7	Moderate
Older or poorly insulated, warm attic	19.7	High

Sealing and insulating a typical attic takes out about 5.6 days a winter here. It does not move the risk band, but it shortens every dam. An older house with a warm attic should expect closer to 19.7 days.

Preventing ice dams on a Wabash roof

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.

Which to spend on first: air sealing or heat cable.

Wabash winter, month by month

Month	Snow (in)	Days on ground	Dam days
January	7.3	15.5	5.2
February	4.8	15.1	4.3
March	2.4	3.9	0.7
April	0.4	0.1	0.0
November	1.0	1.1	0.2
December	3.6	7.9	2.2

Wabash next to nearby towns

Wabash ranks 25 of 88 Indiana cities here for ice-dam days, behind Plymouth at 15.9 days.

Peru, IN 13 mi, 10.2 days
Huntington, IN 18 mi, 10.5 days
Marion, IN 20 mi, 8.8 days
Logansport, IN 28 mi, 10.4 days
Kokomo, IN 28 mi, 10.8 days

Where these numbers come from

NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Wabash, 0.8 miles from Wabash. 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.

Snow-on-the-ground counts come from a second, nearby station, because the closest one does not record them.