Dade County, GA Roof Snow Load - 10 psf
What ASCE 7 says about snow load in Dade County
That's Dade County's design roof snow load per ASCE 7-22, for a typical heated single-family home - the number a permit reviewer starts from. Flat and low-pitch roofs in Dade County are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 10 psf, not the 7 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.
Converted to something you can actually eyeball on a roof: about 22 in. of fresh powder, 8 in. once it settles and packs down, or just 2 in. if it's turned to ice. A modest addition to standard roof loading. Ordinary residential construction handles this without extra bracing.
Dade County at a glance
- Design roof snow load10 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map10 psf
- National rank#1,940 of 2,758
- Georgia rank#17 of 159
- Population16,068
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal2.1 in.
- FIPS13083
Where Dade County's figure sits nationally
Out of 2,758 rated US counties, Dade County sits at #1,940, the top 70% nationally - #17 of 159 within Georgia. That's 6.4 psf above Georgia's own county-average design load of 3.6 psf.
Near 34.8524°N 85.5062°W, FIPS 13083: Dade County counts 16,068 residents and a 10 psf map value, which the code's own factors turn into 10 psf.
How much it actually snows in Dade County
Most winters bring Dade County roughly 2.1 in. of snow - NOAA's normal at CHICKAMAUGA 2 SW, GA US, 10.9 mi off. (fresh vs. packed vs. ice explains why.)
Read this before you rely on it
Dade 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 Dade County's county-wide figure. (How this figure is calculated.)