SnowLoadCheck

Cleveland County, NC Roof Snow Load - 10 psf

Cleveland County, NC roof snow load, translated

Light
10 psf

A typical heated home in Cleveland 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.

Cleveland County, NC: quick facts

Where Cleveland County ranks

#66 of 100 North Carolina counties by design load, top 62% of 2,758 nationally - that's Cleveland County's spot. North Carolina counties average 12.9 psf; Cleveland County runs 2.9 psf lower than that.

FIPS 37045, population 102,194, centered near 35.3346°N 81.5571°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.

Cleveland County: average annual snowfall

Cleveland County sees about 4 in. of snow most winters, per the SHELBY 2 NW, NC US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Cleveland 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.