Chippewa County, MI Roof Snow Load - 49 psf
Chippewa County, MI roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Chippewa County is designed to carry 49 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.
On a roof that means 107.8 in. of fresh snow, 39.2 in. once it packs down, or 9.8 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. 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.
Chippewa County, MI: quick facts
- Design roof snow load49 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map70 psf
- National rank#15 of 2,758
- Michigan rank#4 of 70
- Population36,253
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal94.1 in.
- FIPS26033
Where Chippewa County ranks
#4 of 70 Michigan counties by design load, top 1% of 2,758 nationally - that's Chippewa County's spot. Michigan counties average 31.7 psf; Chippewa County runs 17.3 psf higher than that.
FIPS 26033, population 36,253, centered near 46.3218°N 84.5206°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 70 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 49 psf design figure above.
Chippewa County: average annual snowfall
Chippewa County sees about 94.1 in. of snow most winters, per the RUDYARD 4N, MI US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Chippewa 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. Details: the calculation guide.