Eddy County, NM Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Eddy County, NM roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Eddy County is designed to carry 5 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 5 psf - higher than the 3.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.
On a roof that means 11 in. of fresh snow, 4 in. once it packs down, or 1 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.
Eddy County at a glance
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,174 of 2,758
- New Mexico rank#17 of 27
- Population61,436
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal2.7 in.
- FIPS35015
Where Eddy County ranks
#17 of 27 New Mexico counties by design load, top 79% of 2,758 nationally - that's Eddy County's spot. 6.9 psf is New Mexico's typical county figure - Eddy County comes in 1.9 psf under it.
FIPS 35015, population 61,436, centered near 32.4578°N 104.3064°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 5 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 5 psf design figure above.
Eddy County: average annual snowfall
Eddy County sees about 2.7 in. of snow most winters, per the CARLSBAD, NM US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Eddy 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.