Ice dam risk in Winston-Salem, NC
Ice dams in Winston-Salem, NC: how often
1.2 dam days a winter
Low risk. On an ordinary house in Winston-Salem, conditions for an ice dam come on about 1.2 days in a normal winter, mostly in January and February.
Winston-Salem averages 7 inches of snow a year and about 6 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 Winston-Salem
| Attic | Dam days | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Air-sealed and well insulated | 1.1 | Low |
| Typical, some insulation, not air-sealed | 1.2 | Low |
| Older or poorly insulated, warm attic | 1.3 | Low |
The attic matters less in Winston-Salem than in colder towns: there are only 0.1 days a winter between a typical attic and a sealed one.
Preventing ice dams on a Winston-Salem 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.
Winston-Salem winter, month by month
| Month | Snow (in) | Days on ground | Dam days |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 2.7 | 2.8 | 0.6 |
| February | 1.9 | 1.6 | 0.3 |
| March | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 |
| December | 1.9 | 1.4 | 0.3 |
Winston-Salem next to nearby towns
Winston-Salem ranks 3 of 91 North Carolina cities here for ice-dam days, behind Boone at 4.9 days.
- Clemmons, NC 9 mi, 1.2 days
- Lewisville, NC 9 mi, 1.2 days
- Kernersville, NC 10 mi, 0.8 days
- High Point, NC 17 mi, 0.0 days
- Thomasville, NC 18 mi, 0.0 days
Where these numbers come from
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals from Yadkinville 6 E, 16.1 miles from Winston-Salem. 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.