Barrow County, GA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Barrow County, GA roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Barrow County is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. §7.3.4's low-slope minimum of 5 psf is what actually governs on a flat or low-pitch roof here - higher than the 3.5 psf the base ground-load formula gives.
On a roof that means 11 in. of fresh snow, 4 in. once it packs down, or 1 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. This is a modest add-on to standard roof loading - ordinary residential construction carries it without extra bracing.
Barrow County in numbers
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,145 of 2,758
- Georgia rank#44 of 159
- Population96,294
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.5 in.
- FIPS13013
Where Barrow County ranks
#44 of 159 Georgia counties by design load, top 78% of 2,758 nationally - that's Barrow County's spot. Georgia counties average 3.6 psf; Barrow County runs 1.4 psf higher than that.
FIPS 13013, population 96,294, centered near 33.992°N 83.7123°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 5 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 5 psf design figure above.
Barrow County: average annual snowfall
Barrow County sees about 0.5 in. of snow most winters, per the WINDER 4S, GA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Barrow 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.