Golden Valley County, ND Roof Snow Load - 21 psf
Golden Valley County, ND roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Golden Valley County is designed to carry 21 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.
On a roof that means 46.2 in. of fresh snow, 16.8 in. once it packs down, or 4.2 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.
Golden Valley County in numbers
- Design roof snow load21 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map30 psf
- National rank#487 of 2,758
- North Dakota rank#48 of 49
- Population1,795
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal30.1 in.
- FIPS38033
Where Golden Valley County ranks
#48 of 49 North Dakota counties by design load, top 18% of 2,758 nationally - that's Golden Valley County's spot. That's 8.4 psf below North Dakota's own county-average design load of 29.4 psf.
FIPS 38033, population 1,795, centered near 46.9389°N 103.8446°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 30 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 21 psf design figure above.
Golden Valley County: average annual snowfall
Golden Valley County sees about 30.1 in. of snow most winters, per the MEDORA, ND US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Golden Valley 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. See the methodology guide.