Ice dam risk in Waynesboro, VA
How often ice dams form in Waynesboro
3.9 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Waynesboro, conditions for an ice dam come on about 3.9 days in a normal winter, mostly in February and January.
Waynesboro averages 22 inches of snow a year and about 19 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 Waynesboro
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 3.0 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 3.9 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 5.1 | Moderate |
The attic matters less in Waynesboro than in colder towns: there are only 0.9 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Waynesboro 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.
Waynesboro winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5.4 | 4.8 | 1.2 |
| February | 6.8 | 6.1 | 1.4 |
| March | 4.1 | 2.8 | 0.4 |
| April | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| November | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 |
| December | 4.8 | 4.4 | 0.9 |
Waynesboro next to nearby towns
Waynesboro ranks 9 of 39 Virginia cities here for ice-dam days, behind Winchester at 4.7 days.
- Staunton, VA 11 mi, 3.9 days
- Charlottesville, VA 23 mi, 2.3 days
- Harrisonburg, VA 26 mi, 4.2 days
- Lynchburg, VA 49 mi, 2.8 days
- Culpeper, VA 56 mi, 4.5 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Staunton Wtp, 13.0 miles from Waynesboro. 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.