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Some of these icicles are coming from the fascia, but many are coming from the soffit. Icicles forming under the soffit are a sign that water is getting through your roof and may soon get into your house. NOTE: this does not always precede water getting inside.

Ice Dams and Icicles

 If you see icicles from your soffit or any accumulating ice on your roof, DON'T WAIT. At a minimum, seek to reduce the feeder of the ice by removing the snow load. 
ICE DAMS CAUSE SERIOUS DAMAGE to buildings. When heat loss allows snow to melt but then that meltwater refreezes on the eaves, the refrozen water can build up and form a dam that holds future snowmelt over the roof.  Roofs are meant to shed water, not hold water, and this situation leads to water in your home, causing extensive damage. The homeowner of the house on the left chose to act quickly and get the snow load off the roof before the small ice dam could grow and cause serious damage. 

How exactly did this happen?!

Rest assured: we are better at removing ice dams and roof snow than creating images for this page.

With the right mix of snow load on the roof, plus heat loss, the snow will begin to melt down the roof. However, with the right conditions, it will refreeze on the eaves and form a wall of ice, or an ice dam. This builds up until water that is warm enough from the heat loss stays liquid and ponds behind the dam. With time, that water finds its way into your home.
You may notice that at certain times of the day you get drips, and then maybe overnight it stops, or vice versa. Or, maybe one day it stops altogether for a time. Any of these scenarios does not mean the problem will go away. Depending on conditions, it could quickly get drastically worse. Ice dams are very unpredictable and are different depending on each situation. IF YOU HAVE ANY SIGN OF WATER IN YOUR HOME, IT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED IMMEDIATELY.

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This has never happened before, why is it a problem for me now?

There are many factors that lead to ice dams, including snowfall amounts, wind drifts, sun/clouds, temperatures, etc. Ice dams are not a regular/extensive problem in Nebraska. If they were, building codes would require more extensive preventative build styles such as "cold roofs" as can be found in high snowfall areas such as higher elevations in the Rocky Mountains. 
However, in the right mix of weather or other factors that have changed for your home, you may be now experiencing an issue, and this issue may be one-off or may become a recurring issue until the underlying problem is addressed.
Possible changes can include, but are not limited to:

• Pest activity that causes a reduction or loss of insulation in parts of your attic
• Old, worn out, or damaged parts that lead to cracks/heat loss from things such as exhaust fans or ventilation pipes
• Poor or reduced attic ventilation due to clogged/blocked/broken attic vents
• Remodeling or updates in the house that lead to heat loss to the roof
• Poorly insulated, insulation accidentally removed, or poorly sealed/not completely closed attic hatch
• Bathroom or other vent that is no longer venting all the way outside, only to the attic
• Trees have grown that cause changing/increasing drifts on your roof, or different sun/shade patterns (less common)
• Unusual or irregular wind patterns that lead to a drift on a different part of your roof than what might seem "normal"

Or, due to the infrequent nature of the "Perfect Storm" for ice dams to form, since you've lived in your home you simply haven't had the unfortunate combination of weather that has now led to this problem. 
IT IS ALWAYS RECOMMENDED to reduce snow load on your roof. DEFINITELY DO NOT WAIT if you see excessive drifts or any sort of ice forming on the roof or icicles forming from the soffit. 

The excessive drift was wisely removed to prevent any issues from arising.

Removal of Problematic Ice and Snow

We use specialized, industrial, diesel-powered ice dam removal equipment that produces super-heated hot water and steam to safely remove ice dams from your roof. 
We also utilize specialized professional roof rakes that are significantly faster than the typical roof rake to remove snow loads and help prevent ice dams from forming. We will never use hatchets, chainsaws, salt, de-icers, or any other harmful chemicals on your roof. 

Watch out for national ice dam companies

National ice dam companies look to profit by "storm chasing" wherever the issues may arise in a given year. Sometimes these companies contract with others that may have little to no experience removing ice dams. Otherwise, they will only be around for as long as there are bad ice dams. If you have a problem down the road, you'll want to know that the folks you hire will be right here in Nebraska to take care of you. 

Ice Dam Prevention, DIY Tips, and FAQ

 The number 1 way to prevent an ice dam is to remove snow load on the roof. Ice dams have nothing to "feed" them if there is no snow on the roof.
Home remedies include: 

• Purchase a roof rake from a local hardware store and remove the snow yourself. Act fast, usually if there is a big storm these go fast. Focus especially on getting any problem areas first, and especially the bottom 6+ feet of a roof. When in doubt, take more rather than less snow off the roof. Watch that your roof rake is not digging into your shingles.
• Some folks will purchase heat tape/cables and attempt to melt the ice dam this way. However, this is not always effective and can sometimes actually make the problem worse, if not done properly.
• Ice melt is not recommended for roofs, as the chemicals can damage your roof and this practice will void your warranty with some manufacturers.
• Never use an ice pick, axe, chisel, chainsaw, or other sharp tool, nor hammer or other heavy object to attempt to bust up the ice dam. This can lead to damage not only from the tool directly contacting the shingle but from chunks of ice being bonded to the shingle and tearing pieces of shingle away as chunks of ice break apart.

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Will insurance cover ice dam removal?
It is your responsibility to check with your insurance agency and do any steps necessary before hiring services. As an example, your insurance company may require you have already filed a claim before hiring the ice dam removed.

I have "Ice and Water" underlayment... shouldn't that take care of the problem, and why isn't it working?
Ice and water underlayment is designed in part to take care of this problem. So yes, hopefully it will do its job. However, there still can be a lot of ice dam issues even with properly installed underlayment. Reasons why it is not working vary, but it may not have been installed right, may be slightly damaged for a variety of reasons, it may have weakened with age, or simply the ice dam has climbed up past the amount of specialized underlayment. Usually ice and water underlayment is not installed all the way up the roof, instead only one 3 foot roll is applied/required, depending on the design of the roof.

Could you provide an estimate?
Due to the nature and complexity of this work, we are unable to provide estimates. There are simply too many unknowns. We commit to working hard to provide you with the best and most efficient service possible.

Aren't you a land and dirt work company? What do you know about roofs?
Yes. Our job most of the year is in land management, seeding, landscaping, etc. However, the owner has several years experience in construction before switching to land work. Further, he has been trained on the unique challenges with ice dams by a mentor, and has done it several seasons. So when the weather is bad enough for ice dams that usually means no land work can be done, so we focus our efforts on ice dam removal.
We look forward to serving you and helping care for your home. We pride ourselves in doing great work and taking care of our customers.
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More info:
Go to this link from the University of Minnesota to learn more about ice dams (it also contains a better illustration of an ice dam): https://extension.umn.edu/protecting-home-rain-and-ice/dealing-and-preventing-ice-dams 

Gallery

This overhanging snow drift looked pretty neat, but especially with it being wet snow, this was removed to prevent any problems.

Here is the after. In this case, we did not need to get every last flake of snow, and since the wet snow had frozen hard we opted for a cost-effective removal.

As described, icicles forming from the soffit are a sign that water is getting under your shingles. Act fast if you see this! Note that not all icicles here are coming from the soffit, some are coming off the fascia.

Here is the roof cleared all the way above the beginning ice dam. With the ease access for removing the snow, this homeowner chose to have all the snow removed to be safe. All this snow was removed without having to get on the roof.

This customer was dealing with leaks coming from the dormer, where the siding meets the roof. We removed the snow load to prevent these leaks. When weather improved, the roof flashings were fixed to prevent the problem long term.