Our guys are still out cleaning up the mess of snow that fell on the Twin Cities metro area overnight. It was a little less than expected, but that did not stop the storm from wreaking havoc on area roads. With temperatures overnight in the single digits, pretreatment and salt simply do not work. If the snow was not enough to disrupt our lives, we are about to be plagued by an incoming polar vortex. To put it simply, a polar vortex is a pocket of fridgid air that normaly sits over the polar region of the Northern Hemishpire. An extremely powerful high pressure system is needed to push the vortex into the United States briniging with it dangerously bitter air. Minneapolis and St. Paul could see temperatures not seen in over 20 years the next few days. The recent snow and upcoming fridgid temps create a perfect storm for ice dams. Ice dams form when deep snow sits upon a roof. The snow acts as an insulater for the heat from the roof to melt the layer touching the roof. The melting snow drips down your roof and collects at the eaves, usually in gutters and refreezes, creating a dam for more water to collect and refreeze behind it. Three factors need to happen to create ice dams which is the reason we do not see them every winter. We need air temperatures well below freezing, a thick layer of dry snow, and heat coming from the building inside. With temps well below 0, people tend to turn their heat up a little higher, which warms the roof if you do not have good ventilation and insulation. This melting and refreezing is a big problem. As ice accumulates, it creates a barrier that blocks the roof from shedding water. The water will eventually get blocked at the ice dam and push its way under the roofing material. This could cause incredible interior damage if not taken care of. Most insurance carriers will not cover damage caused by an ice dam that was not removed in a timely fashion. I will save the mold issues that come with ice dams for another post. Be prepared to see some major ice dams after this cold spell. See our webite for more information gophersnowice.com