Emergency personnel send out warning about snow on roofs

CTV London: Warning issued about snow on roofs The milder weather has caused two roofs to collapse in midwestern Ontario. Scott Miller has more.

The weather is making a comeback in the headlines. This time it could impact your roof.

The weather has been the story all week and it looks like it will be again this weekend.

With rain on the way and milder temperatures, moisture and weight will be added to an already heavy snowload on people's roofs.

Already two roofs have collapsed in midwestern Ontario this week.

Jim Mason was spending his Friday ridding his roof of snow and ice.

Across the street in Blyth his neighbour was doing the same.

“When it starts to rain the snow just acts like a sponge and just sucks it up and adds all that weight to it," Steve Wallenby says.

The snowpack prompted a warning from Huron County emergency services. It provided the approximate roof snow load of both snow and ice as follows:

This information might have helped in Mildmay, where a main beam gave out at Home Hardware, leading to a partial roof collapse. Another building in Howick Township was also felled by heavy snow and ice.

“It's been a crazy week. Snow can weigh as little as three pounds per square foot a foot deep, whereas ice just an inch deep weighs more than that,” says David Sparling, North Huron fire chief.

“We just want people to be mindful of it. It’s not just old houses. The exhaust vent for our diesel fumes on the roof is blocked so we'll be cleaning that out this afternoon."

Snowbanks are so high around most homes that you may not even have to go up on the roof to clean it off.

But there’s been a run on roof rakes and they were hard to find in Huron, Perth, Grey and Bruce Counties on Friday.