Emery County, UT Roof Snow Load - 15 psf
Emery County, UT roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Emery County is designed to carry 15 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 15 psf - higher than the 10.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.
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.
Emery County at a glance
- Design roof snow load15 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map15 psf
- National rank#1,551 of 2,758
- Utah rank#6 of 10
- Population10,161
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal11 in.
- FIPS49015
Where Emery County ranks
#6 of 10 Utah counties by design load, top 56% of 2,758 nationally - that's Emery County's spot. That's 1.6 psf below Utah's own county-average design load of 16.6 psf.
FIPS 49015, population 10,161, centered near 39.009°N 110.7211°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.
Emery County: average annual snowfall
Emery County sees about 11 in. of snow most winters, per the CASTLEDALE HUNTER UP&L, UT US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Emery 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.