Forrest County, MS Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Forrest County, MS roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Forrest County is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. Flat and low-pitch roofs in Forrest County are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 5 psf, not the 3.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.
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. This is a modest add-on to standard roof loading - ordinary residential construction carries it without extra bracing.
Snow on Forrest County's roofs right now?
Forrest County in numbers
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,156 of 2,758
- Mississippi rank#38 of 82
- Population78,435
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.9 in.
- FIPS28035
Where Forrest County ranks
#38 of 82 Mississippi counties by design load, top 78% of 2,758 nationally - that's Forrest County's spot. Mississippi counties average 6.5 psf; Forrest County runs 1.5 psf lower than that.
FIPS 28035, population 78,435, centered near 31.1886°N 89.2594°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.
Forrest County: average annual snowfall
Forrest County sees about 0.9 in. of snow most winters, per the HATTIESBURG 5SW, MS US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Forrest 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.