Ice dam risk in Warrensburg, MO
Ice dams in Warrensburg, MO: how often
4.8 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Warrensburg, conditions for an ice dam come on about 4.8 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and December.
Warrensburg averages 12 inches of snow a year and about 18 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 Warrensburg
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 3.0 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 4.8 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 6.9 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Warrensburg than in colder towns: there are only 1.8 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Warrensburg 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.
Warrensburg winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 3.8 | 7.6 | 2.4 |
| February | 2.9 | 3.7 | 1.0 |
| March | 1.1 | 1.6 | 0.2 |
| April | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| December | 3.3 | 4.3 | 1.1 |
Warrensburg next to nearby towns
Warrensburg ranks 17 of 80 Missouri cities here for ice-dam days, behind Maryville at 9.3 days.
- Sedalia, MO 27 mi, 3.0 days
- Grain Valley, MO 32 mi, 5.2 days
- Blue Springs, MO 34 mi, 5.2 days
- Lee's Summit, MO 37 mi, 5.2 days
- Marshall, MO 37 mi, 2.0 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Elm, 18.2 miles from Warrensburg. 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.