Aurora County, SD Roof Snow Load - 28 psf
Aurora County, SD roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Aurora County is designed to carry 28 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.
On a roof that means 61.6 in. of fresh snow, 22.4 in. once it packs down, or 5.6 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Modern-code homes carry a load like this without issue; an older addition, a carport, or any flat-roofed section is where it is worth checking first.
Aurora County in numbers
- Design roof snow load28 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map40 psf
- National rank#290 of 2,758
- South Dakota rank#38 of 65
- Population2,752
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal37.7 in.
- FIPS46003
Where Aurora County ranks
#38 of 65 South Dakota counties by design load, top 11% of 2,758 nationally - that's Aurora County's spot. South Dakota counties average 28.2 psf; Aurora County runs 0.2 psf lower than that.
FIPS 46003, population 2,752, centered near 43.7247°N 98.5776°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 40 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 28 psf design figure above.
Aurora County: average annual snowfall
Aurora County sees about 37.7 in. of snow most winters, per the WHITE LAKE, SD US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Aurora County's figure
The figure above assumes the case ASCE 7-22 treats as typical: a heated, ordinary-occupancy home on a partially exposed site. Change any of those - exposure, heating, roof pitch, occupancy category - and the real design number moves.
A building permit needs the number at your exact address, not the county average - the free ASCE 7 Hazard Tool returns that from your coordinates in about a minute and produces a PDF a plan reviewer will accept. See the methodology guide.