SnowLoadCheck

Bossier Parish, LA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf

Bossier Parish, LA roof snow load, translated

Light
5 psf

A typical heated home in Bossier Parish is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. Flat and low-pitch roofs in Bossier Parish are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 5 psf, not the 3.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.

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. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.

Bossier Parish, LA: quick facts

Where Bossier Parish ranks

#4 of 64 Louisiana counties by design load, top 77% of 2,758 nationally - that's Bossier Parish's spot. Louisiana counties average 2.4 psf; Bossier Parish runs 2.6 psf higher than that.

FIPS 22015, population 131,102, centered near 32.6985°N 93.6266°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.

Bossier Parish: average annual snowfall

Bossier Parish sees about 0.6 in. of snow most winters, per the PLAIN DEALING, LA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Bossier Parish'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. Details: the calculation guide.