Hamilton County, IN Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Hamilton County, IN roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Hamilton County is designed to carry 20 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 20 psf - higher than the 14 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.
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.
Hamilton County at a glance
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map20 psf
- National rank#553 of 2,758
- Indiana rank#4 of 89
- Population379,704
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal20.3 in.
- FIPS18057
Where Hamilton County ranks
#4 of 89 Indiana counties by design load, top 20% of 2,758 nationally - that's Hamilton County's spot. 19.3 psf is Indiana's typical county figure - Hamilton County beats it by 0.7 psf.
FIPS 18057, population 379,704, centered near 40.0535°N 86.0217°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 20 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 20 psf design figure above.
Hamilton County: average annual snowfall
Hamilton County sees about 20.3 in. of snow most winters, per the NOBLESVILLE 3 W, IN US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Hamilton 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.