SnowLoadCheck

Guadalupe County, NM Roof Snow Load - 10 psf

Guadalupe County, NM roof snow load, translated

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10 psf

A typical heated home in Guadalupe County is designed to carry 10 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. 7 psf is what the ground-load formula alone gives; Guadalupe County's 10 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 22 in. of fresh snow, 8 in. once it packs down, or 2 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.

Guadalupe County, NM: quick facts

Where Guadalupe County ranks

#8 of 27 New Mexico counties by design load, top 74% of 2,758 nationally - that's Guadalupe County's spot. 6.9 psf is New Mexico's typical county figure - Guadalupe County beats it by 3.1 psf.

FIPS 35019, population 4,385, centered near 34.8697°N 104.7849°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 10 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 10 psf design figure above.

Guadalupe County: average annual snowfall

Guadalupe County sees about 27.2 in. of snow most winters, per the DILIA, NM US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. Worth noting: the nearest station reporting snowfall normals sits 26.6 mi from Guadalupe County's center, so treat this as a regional figure rather than an exact one. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Guadalupe 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.