Clay County, TN Roof Snow Load - 10 psf
Clay County, TN roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Clay County is designed to carry 10 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. ASCE 7's low-slope-roof minimum (§7.3.4) raises the governing figure to 10 psf - higher than the 7 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.
On a roof that means 22 in. of fresh snow, 8 in. once it packs down, or 2 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. A modest addition to standard roof loading. Ordinary residential construction handles this without extra bracing.
Clay County, TN: quick facts
- Design roof snow load10 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map10 psf
- National rank#2,022 of 2,758
- Tennessee rank#90 of 95
- Population7,857
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal4.6 in.
- FIPS47027
Where Clay County ranks
#90 of 95 Tennessee counties by design load, top 73% of 2,758 nationally - that's Clay County's spot. That's 0.3 psf below Tennessee's own county-average design load of 10.3 psf.
FIPS 47027, population 7,857, centered near 36.5457°N 85.5457°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 10 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 10 psf design figure above.
Clay County: average annual snowfall
Clay County sees about 4.6 in. of snow most winters, per the GAINESBORO, TN US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Clay 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.