Our VA winter has been very warm until two weeks ago. This is the second year of this. I did two things differently this year, so the result might be due to a combination of bee characteristics and hardware. 1} I now use a slatted rack on the bottom board below the first brood box and a modified imrie shim above the inner cover. The modification is 8 half inch holes drilled in the sides with screen wire glued on the inside of the holes. 2] I shifted to NWC carniolan bees last spring from the hybrid Italians. The result was the Carniolans used about 1/3 of the stores the remaining Italian hive did [all in 1 9in and 1 6in boxes]. And none of the boxes were damp. I suggest you take a look at carniolan bees for cold weather states. Cordially, John F. Mesinger