Snowed In: Safely Inspecting Your Roof in Winter Weather Conditions

You can inspect a snow-covered roof without ever setting foot on it. Look at it from the ground, read the way the snow is melting, pull the bottom few feet off with a roof rake, and then go into the attic, where most winter roof problems show up first. Climbing onto a snowy roof is the one step to skip: snow hides the edges, the skylights and the ice underneath.

Falls are the real risk here. A University of Massachusetts trauma study of 129 people hurt doing their own roof and tree work found about 70% were falls from height, and nearly half of those injured had head injuries (Psoinos et al., 2012). OSHA’s guidance for workers who clear roofs says the same thing: use methods that keep people off the roof whenever possible, because snow can hide skylights that people fall through (OSHA hazard alert).

01Read the snow from the ground first

Snow is a free heat map. Go out the morning after a cold, calm snowfall, before the sun has worked on it, and walk all the way around the house. Binoculars help.

• Bare patches or stripes on an otherwise white roof mean heat is getting out of the house below that spot. Rows of bare stripes that line up with the rafters point to missing or thin insulation between them.
• A melted ring around a vent pipe, bath fan or chimney usually means warm air is leaking up around that opening.
• A dip or sag in the snow line along the ridge or between rafters can mean the structure underneath is bending. Compare it to how the roof looks in summer.
• Big icicles and a ridge of ice along the eaves are the start of an ice dam (more on that below).
• Snow piled deep on one side, in a valley, or where a higher roof drops onto a lower one. Drifts load a roof unevenly, which is harder on the framing than an even blanket.

Take photos from the same spots each time. Comparing them over a few storms tells you more than any single look.

02Use a roof rake on the bottom few feet

A roof rake is a wide, flat blade on a telescoping pole that you work from the ground. A 21-foot telescoping model like the Snow Joe Roofer Joe runs about $50 to $60 at big-box and hardware stores (as of October 2026). It reaches the first-floor eaves on most houses; it won’t reach the ridge of a two-story roof, and it doesn’t need to.

Clearing the bottom few feet does two jobs. It lets you see the shingles, drip edge and gutters at the eave, where most winter damage starts. It also takes away the snow that would melt and refreeze into an ice dam (University of Minnesota Extension).

How to do it without hurting yourself or the shingles, based on Maine Emergency Management Agency guidance:

• Stand well back so the snow doesn’t land on you, and pull small amounts at a time.
• Start at the edge and work up the slope.
• Leave 2 to 3 inches of snow on the roof. Scraping down to the shingles tears granules off and can lift shingle edges.
• Look up before you extend the pole. Most roof rakes are aluminum and conduct electricity, so stay clear of the service line where power enters the house.
• Wear a hat or helmet and goggles, and have someone else outside with you.
• Don’t go up a ladder to reach farther. Icy rungs and a heavy pole are a bad mix.

03Don’t heat the attic to melt snow

Some old advice says to warm the attic so snow melts off and you can see the roof. That is how ice dams are made. Snow melts over the warm part of the roof, the water runs down to the cold overhang, and it freezes there. The ice builds into a dam, water backs up behind it, and it works under the shingles into your ceilings and walls (University of Minnesota Extension).

A healthy attic in winter should be close to the outdoor temperature. If yours feels warm, that is a finding, not a tool. Extension’s long-term fix is to air-seal the ceiling first (gaps around light fixtures, the attic hatch, plumbing and wiring holes), then add insulation. Maine’s emergency agency also warns against putting electric heaters or open flames on or near a roof to melt snow.

04Skip the garden hose (mostly)

Spraying water on roof snow to “slide it off” mostly makes things worse. Snow soaks up water like a sponge, so you add weight to the roof before anything slides. Whatever doesn’t run off freezes overnight into ice, and one inch of ice weighs about as much as a foot of fresh snow (Maine Emergency Management Agency).

There is one narrow use. If an ice dam is already pushing water into the house, the University of Minnesota says you can hose a channel through the dam with tap water on a warm day so the trapped water drains. It’s a stopgap: the channel stops working within days. Do it from the ground, and aim the runoff away from walkways where it will freeze.

05What to look for at the eaves

Once the bottom few feet are raked, use the pole or a soft broom from the ground to brush off what’s left near the edge. Don’t chip at ice with the rake or a hammer; you’ll break shingles and gutters faster than the ice will.

• Shingles that are cracked, curled, lifted or missing, and tabs bent back by wind.
• Ice packed under the shingle edge or behind the gutter.
• Gutters pulling away from the fascia or bent down under ice. Icicles hanging over a door are a hazard in their own right; knock small ones down from a distance.
• Dark streaks or wet staining on the fascia and soffit, which means water is getting behind the gutter.
• Flashing around a chimney or wall that has pulled loose or has a gap.

Mark anything odd in your photos so you can find it again when the snow is gone, or show it to a roofer.

06Inspect the attic

The attic shows what the roof deck is doing from the underside, and in winter it’s the safest place to look. Take a bright flashlight, wear a dust mask and gloves, and step only on joists or a floored walkway. Ceiling drywall won’t hold you.

• Frost on the underside of the roof deck or on nail tips. Warm, moist house air is getting into the attic. When it thaws, it drips and looks like a leak.
• Water stains or dark wet spots on the sheathing, especially near the eaves, around the chimney, and at vent pipes.
• Wet, matted or compressed insulation. Wet insulation stops insulating, and damp wood can grow mold.
• Daylight through the deck where there shouldn’t be any, apart from the vents.
• Cracked or split rafters or trusses, bowed members, or connector plates pulling out.
• Warm spots in the floor insulation, such as around recessed lights and the hatch, which tend to match the bare spots you saw on the roof outside.

A pin-type moisture meter, sold at most hardware stores, tells you whether a dark spot on the wood is wet now or an old, dry stain.

07Check for warm spots

The pattern you saw on the roof outside should match what you find in the attic. A bare stripe over the bathroom usually leads you to a bath fan venting into the attic or an unsealed fan housing. A bare ring around the chimney points to a gap in the air seal there.

A thermal camera makes this faster. Clip-on phone cameras such as the FLIR ONE Edge sell for around $300 (as of October 2026). Scan the ceiling from inside on a cold night with the heat on: cold patches show where insulation is missing, and from the attic, warm streaks show where house air is leaking up. Winter is the best season to do this, because the inside-to-outside temperature gap is large.

No camera? The snow already did the work. Match your morning-after photos to what you see above the ceiling.

08How much snow is too much

FEMA’s Snow Load Safety Guide (P-957) puts a foot of fresh snow at anywhere from about 3 pounds per square foot (light and dry) to 21 pounds (wet and heavy). Maine’s emergency management agency says a typical roof handles about 20 pounds per square foot. Homes in snowy mountain areas are often built for more and mild-climate homes for less, so ask your local building department what design load applies where you live.

Rough rules of thumb from the Maine Emergency Management Agency:

• 10 to 12 inches of new snow is about 5 pounds per square foot.
• 3 to 5 inches of old, packed snow is about 5 pounds per square foot.
• 1 inch of ice is about 5 pounds per square foot, as much as a foot of fresh snow.

So two feet of old, settled snow with a layer of ice can be past 20 pounds while a fluffy two feet is nowhere near it. Flat and low-slope roofs are at the most risk, as are drifts.

Signs the roof is overloaded, according to Maine’s emergency agency:

• Roof sections sagging
• Bad new leaks
• Cracked or split wood framing
• Interior doors that pop open, or doors and windows that suddenly stick
• Creaking, cracking or popping sounds

If you see these, get everyone out of that part of the house and call a roofer or structural engineer. Don’t go up to shovel it yourself.

09Your snowy-roof checklist

1. The morning after a snowfall, photograph every side of the roof from the ground. Note bare spots, sags, drifts and icicles.
2. Rake the bottom few feet from the ground, leaving 2 to 3 inches of snow, and keep the pole away from the power line.
3. Check shingles, gutters and flashing at the cleared eaves.
4. Go into the attic: look for frost, stains, wet insulation and cracked framing.
5. Match warm spots inside to bare spots outside, and put air-sealing on your spring list.
6. Call a roofer for leaks or ice dams you can’t reach from the ground. Get people out and call for help if you see overload signs.

For the rest of the house, see our DIY home inspection guides.

Related: Inspect Your Roof From the Ground: What Binoculars and the Attic Tell You · Protecting Wood from Carpenter Bees