Hamilton County, OH Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Hamilton County, OH 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. §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 14 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. This is a meaningful design load - most modern-code homes handle it fine, though an addition, a carport or a flat-roofed section can be a weak spot.
Hamilton County in numbers
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map20 psf
- National rank#519 of 2,758
- Ohio rank#3 of 86
- Population837,359
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal11.4 in.
- FIPS39061
Where Hamilton County ranks
#3 of 86 Ohio counties by design load, top 19% of 2,758 nationally - that's Hamilton County's spot. Hamilton County's figure lands almost exactly on Ohio's own county-average of 20 psf.
FIPS 39061, population 837,359, centered near 39.1969°N 84.5442°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 11.4 in. of snow most winters, per the CINCINNATI-FERNBANK, OH 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. (How this figure is calculated.)