My daughter has snow coming in her roof vents, to the point when the snow melts she has a wet ceiling. She has a low profile vent with screen inside over the opening. They had this problem a year ago and had the vents, insulation and sheet rock replace. Does anyone have a idea what vent will not allow this. It does not happen every time it snow, just with strong wind and snow. 40-60 mph wind.

A lot of vents in Canada and Alaska vent through the exterior wall and then rise a couple feet before turning downward again. No holes in the roof that way.
But in your daughter's case, I would install two 90 degree ELS on the top of the stack so that the opening faces downward.

Quick fix and worth a try

White17 ELS?

ELBOWS ))) 90 degree turns ))

Sorry. Lazy typing

EDIT ! I reread your original. I thought you were talking about plumbing vents.
Now I'm guessing you meant a vented ridge ??

My guess is ridge vent ….not plumbing pipe vents

It is roof vents. Not a ridge vent. About a foot square, two or three inches tall, flat on top.

Curious to hear some replies also. I have a ridge cap roof vent the full length my house. I end up with small snow drifts up in the attic when we have strong south winds. I think snow shoots straight up my roof and goes in the roof vent. I need something different too.

I am far from an expert but I would think a vented ridge cap and vented soffit would give enough ventilation and eliminate the problem.

A ridge vent may be a option for you depending on the layout of your roof. The turtle type attic vents that you have are notorious for some snow getting in I don't think I have ever tore off a roof where the insulation hasn't sagged a little under the vent.
It usually isnt a problem most of the time but if you are in a open high wind area I can see where enough snow could get in to do damage.
All ridge vents aren't the same either so keep that in mind

How big is small? Direction of wind and ridge could make a lot of difference I would think. That and the location of the house. She is NW Bismarck on top a hill with miles of open ground N NW.
They just change the vents to the ones the roofer said he never saw snow get in, and now one year later more snow. A ridge vent may be the answer.

Some of that snow is like dust here the kind that blows out of a vehicle’s defroster when the fan is turned on in the morning.

I have those type of vent also but never had a problem with wet celling. I have had them covered many times but seem to clear open.

Snow is blowing in through the screen on the vents. It builds up enough snow in the attic, that when it melts it soaks the insulation and sheet rock.

You need to get rid of those type of vents and switch out to gable vents or if you have a hip roof, ridge vents. I have gable vents. When we have blowing snow a little bit gets in. Almost like a dust as someone posted earlier. I cut a piece of 4x8x1/2” drywall and placed one under each gable vent. These catch the small amount of snow that does get in, where it melts and evaporates. Drywall is pretty water stained now after 30+ years. Have never had so much snow that it runs off into the insulation, much less dripping down onto the ceiling below.

Have a ridge vent in the pole barn and have never seen where snow gets in there, but haven’t really paid too much attention there. Maybe someone who has that type of vent can comment further.

They make either louvered covers for those vents or you can buy louvers to put in the opening . I've seen them but have no idea where they were advertised.
Maybe Google louvered roof vents and she if that is what she has now or not.
I know of this problem, ceilings can fall in over it.

If the opening in the top of the roof sheathing is cut too big, the extra airflow will "assist" the snow sucking in...that opening should be 1" MAX, for positive airflow, as you should have 2" MIN coming up from the bottom

I had trouble with the vents like that on my place. I glued frog skin? over them. Same stuff used on snowmobile cowling openings.

Osky

I agree with this. If you are getting wind-driven fine snow inside the attic then the turtle-type roof vents aren't going to work (as you have already discovered).

In your situation I think louvered gable vents would be best at preventing wind-driven snow from entering the attic. Continual ridge vent would be my second choice. As mentioned above, if the house has a hip roof gable vents are not an option.

Ridge venting works best at removing excess heat from an attic but only if there are vented soffits on the house and clear channels from soffit to vent. I don't know how much of a concern excessive heat in the attic is in North Dakota though.

Neither option will be cheap but both will be cheaper than repeatedly replacing insulation and sheetrock.

Probably a 3 inch high drift and 2 feet long. My house is a modular home so has a marriage wall. Drift sits right on top of the two center walls. When it warms up and melts you can here it dripping. Home sits angled northwest-southeast. I have a building about 30 yards away from my house. When we get a strong southwest spring wind, the wind comes around the shed and it's almost a vacuum effect blasting at my house. My roof line is wide open to that wind.

I am not sure louvers would be the answer with the wind we get. Any louvered vents I have been around here, when it is blowing are opening and closing from the wind full time. You can hear them. I wonder about covering the screen with something. Something like this. I take it that is what Osky is talking about.