Garfield County, NE Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Garfield County, NE roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Garfield County is designed to carry 20 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. §7.3.4's low-slope minimum of 20 psf is what actually governs on a flat or low-pitch roof here - higher than the 17.5 psf the base ground-load formula gives.
On a roof that means 44 in. of fresh snow, 16 in. once it packs down, or 4 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.
Garfield County, NE: quick facts
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map25 psf
- National rank#1,282 of 2,758
- Nebraska rank#79 of 93
- Population1,707
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal37.9 in.
- FIPS31071
Where Garfield County ranks
#79 of 93 Nebraska counties by design load, top 46% of 2,758 nationally - that's Garfield County's spot. That's 0.2 psf below Nebraska's own county-average design load of 20.2 psf.
FIPS 31071, population 1,707, centered near 41.9069°N 98.9513°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 25 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 20 psf design figure above.
Garfield County: average annual snowfall
Garfield County sees about 37.9 in. of snow most winters, per the BURWELL 20.4 NNE, NE US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Garfield 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. (How this figure is calculated.)