SnowLoadCheck

Choctaw County, AL Roof Snow Load - 5 psf

What ASCE 7 says about snow load in Choctaw County

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5 psf

That's Choctaw County's design roof snow load per ASCE 7-22, for a typical heated single-family home - the number a permit reviewer starts from. ASCE 7's low-slope-roof minimum (§7.3.4) raises the governing figure to 5 psf - higher than the 3.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.

Converted to something you can actually eyeball on a roof: about 11 in. of fresh powder, 4 in. once it settles and packs down, or just 1 in. if it's turned to ice. This is a modest add-on to standard roof loading - ordinary residential construction carries it without extra bracing.

Snow on Choctaw County's roofs right now?

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Choctaw County in numbers

Where Choctaw County's figure sits nationally

Out of 2,758 rated US counties, Choctaw County sits at #2,362, the top 86% nationally - #50 of 67 within Alabama. That's 0.6 psf below Alabama's own county-average design load of 5.6 psf.

Near 31.991°N 88.2489°W, FIPS 01023: Choctaw County counts 12,052 residents and a 5 psf map value, which the code's own factors turn into 5 psf.

How much it actually snows in Choctaw County

Most winters bring Choctaw County roughly 0.4 in. of snow - NOAA's normal at COFFEEVILLE L&D, AL US, 17.7 mi off. (fresh vs. packed vs. ice explains why.)

Read this before you rely on it

Choctaw County's number above is ASCE 7-22's default case, not a custom calculation: ordinary residential occupancy, heated, sited on ground that's neither fully sheltered nor fully exposed. Any one of those changing - pitch, exposure, heating, occupancy - moves the real figure.

Nothing here substitutes for an address-level number. Get one free, in about a minute, from the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool using your own coordinates rather than Choctaw County's county-wide figure. (How this figure is calculated.)