SnowLoadCheck

Fulton County, AR Roof Snow Load - 15 psf

Fulton County, AR roof snow load, translated

Moderate
15 psf

A typical heated home in Fulton 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; Fulton 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.

Got real snow on a Fulton County roof right now?

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Fulton County at a glance

Where Fulton County ranks

#6 of 75 Arkansas counties by design load, top 56% of 2,758 nationally - that's Fulton County's spot. That's 4.9 psf above Arkansas's own county-average design load of 10.1 psf.

FIPS 05049, population 12,546, centered near 36.3813°N 91.8193°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.

Fulton County: average annual snowfall

Fulton County sees about 4.8 in. of snow most winters, per the SALEM, AR US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Fulton 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.