Roofing in Utah is snow load and ice on the Wasatch and in the mountains, and sun on the southern desert, with canyon wind invited to the Front. Ice dams form when attic heat melts snow and the melt refreezes at the eaves, then water backs under shingles and stains interior walls. That is a different failure from a shingle that simply aged, and a different failure from a St. George roof that lost granules under heat the way a Mojave roof does. Steeper roofs shed snow onto walks and onto lower roofs. Low-slope porches hold it. Wind down the canyons lifts tabs and peels ridges.
From the ground, look for ice at the eaves, stained soffits, curled or missing shingles after a wind event, and, in the south, bald granules in the gutters. Do not climb an icy slope. Say whether the leak appears during a thaw, during a windstorm, or only after a summer rain. A boot that cracked in the sun is not an ice dam. An ice dam is not a hail bruise, though hail does mark roofs along the Front and should be named if you see it. Metal, tile, and composition all show up. Say which is on the house.
Ask for a written scope: tear-off or repair, underlayment, eaves protection, flashing at walls, ventilation so the next winter does not rebuild the dam, and what happens if the deck is soft. Ask who pulls the permit and who hauls debris. In the south, ask about underlayment that has baked and about tile or shingle details that match heat, not snow. Ask how a lower roof will be protected from snow sliding off an upper roof.
Name the county. A Park City snow roof and a St. George heat roof should never share a casual description. Call the number on this page.