Anchorage Municipality, AK Roof Snow Load - 35 psf
What ASCE 7 says about snow load in Anchorage Municipality
That's Anchorage Municipality's design roof snow load per ASCE 7-22, for a typical heated single-family home - the number a permit reviewer starts from.
Converted to something you can actually eyeball on a roof: about 77 in. of fresh powder, 28 in. once it settles and packs down, or just 7 in. if it's turned to ice. A serious structural load. Homes built before modern snow-load provisions, or with low-slope/flat roof sections, are the ones most worth having checked.
Already snow on the roof in Anchorage Municipality?
Anchorage Municipality in numbers
- Design roof snow load35 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map50 psf
- National rank#95 of 2,758
- Alaska rank#3 of 4
- Population289,600
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal59.3 in.
- FIPS02020
Where Anchorage Municipality's figure sits nationally
Out of 2,758 rated US counties, Anchorage Municipality sits at #95, the top 3% nationally - #3 of 4 within Alaska. That's 3.5 psf below Alaska's own county-average design load of 38.5 psf.
Near 61.1743°N 149.2843°W, FIPS 02020: Anchorage Municipality counts 289,600 residents and a 50 psf map value, which the code's own factors turn into 35 psf.
How much it actually snows in Anchorage Municipality
Most winters bring Anchorage Municipality roughly 59.3 in. of snow - NOAA's normal at EAGLE RVR 5 SE, AK US, 9.9 mi off. (fresh vs. packed vs. ice explains why.)
Read this before you rely on it
Anchorage Municipality's number above is ASCE 7-22's default case, not a custom calculation: ordinary residential occupancy, heated, sited on ground that's neither fully sheltered nor fully exposed. Any one of those changing - pitch, exposure, heating, occupancy - moves the real figure.
Nothing here substitutes for an address-level number. Get one free, in about a minute, from the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool using your own coordinates rather than Anchorage Municipality's county-wide figure. (How this figure is calculated.)