Gaines County, TX Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Gaines County, TX roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Gaines 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.
Gaines County, TX: quick facts
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,271 of 2,758
- Texas rank#120 of 254
- Population22,892
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal3.9 in.
- FIPS48165
Where Gaines County ranks
#120 of 254 Texas counties by design load, top 82% of 2,758 nationally - that's Gaines County's spot. Texas counties average 5.4 psf; Gaines County runs 0.4 psf lower than that.
FIPS 48165, population 22,892, centered near 32.7439°N 102.6316°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.
Gaines County: average annual snowfall
Gaines County sees about 3.9 in. of snow most winters, per the LENORAH, TX US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. 53.3 mi is a real gap between Gaines County and its nearest reporting station, so local snowfall can diverge from this figure, especially near elevation changes. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Gaines 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.