Dubois County, IN Roof Snow Load - 15 psf
Dubois County, IN roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Dubois County is designed to carry 15 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. 10.5 psf is what the ground-load formula alone gives; Dubois County's 15 psf low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) beats it, so that figure is the one that governs on flat and low-pitch roofs.
On a roof that means 33 in. of fresh snow, 12 in. once it packs down, or 3 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Modern-code homes carry a load like this without issue; an older addition, a carport, or any flat-roofed section is where it is worth checking first.
Dubois County at a glance
- Design roof snow load15 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map15 psf
- National rank#1,390 of 2,758
- Indiana rank#81 of 89
- Population43,629
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal13.6 in.
- FIPS18037
Where Dubois County ranks
#81 of 89 Indiana counties by design load, top 50% of 2,758 nationally - that's Dubois County's spot. That's 4.3 psf below Indiana's own county-average design load of 19.3 psf.
FIPS 18037, population 43,629, centered near 38.3733°N 86.8734°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 15 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 15 psf design figure above.
Dubois County: average annual snowfall
Dubois County sees about 13.6 in. of snow most winters, per the SHOALS 8 S, IN US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Dubois 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.