Etowah County, AL Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Etowah County, AL roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Etowah 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. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.
Etowah County, AL: quick facts
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,141 of 2,758
- Alabama rank#24 of 67
- Population103,207
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.2 in.
- FIPS01055
Where Etowah County ranks
#24 of 67 Alabama counties by design load, top 78% of 2,758 nationally - that's Etowah County's spot. Alabama counties average 5.6 psf; Etowah County runs 0.6 psf lower than that.
FIPS 01055, population 103,207, centered near 34.0476°N 86.0343°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.
Etowah County: average annual snowfall
Etowah County sees about 0.2 in. of snow most winters, per the GADSDEN, AL US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Etowah 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.