Bremer County, IA Roof Snow Load - 21 psf
Bremer County, IA roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Bremer County is designed to carry 21 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.
On a roof that means 46.2 in. of fresh snow, 16.8 in. once it packs down, or 4.2 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.
Bremer County, IA: quick facts
- Design roof snow load21 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map30 psf
- National rank#452 of 2,758
- Iowa rank#31 of 99
- Population25,328
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal38.5 in.
- FIPS19017
Where Bremer County ranks
#31 of 99 Iowa counties by design load, top 16% of 2,758 nationally - that's Bremer County's spot. 21.7 psf is Iowa's typical county figure - Bremer County comes in 0.7 psf under it.
FIPS 19017, population 25,328, centered near 42.7809°N 92.3274°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 30 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 21 psf design figure above.
Bremer County: average annual snowfall
Bremer County sees about 38.5 in. of snow most winters, per the NEW HAMPTON, IA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Bremer 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. (How this figure is calculated.)