Harris County, TX Roof Snow Load - 0 psf
Harris County, TX roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Harris County is designed to carry 0 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.
On a roof that means 0 in. of fresh snow, 0 in. once it packs down, or 0 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Snow load is not a factor in roof design here at all; the ground snow load figure maps to zero.
Harris County, TX: quick facts
- Design roof snow load0 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map0 psf
- National rank#2,472 of 2,758
- Texas rank#206 of 254
- Population5,009,302
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0 in.
- FIPS48201
Where Harris County ranks
#206 of 254 Texas counties by design load, top 90% of 2,758 nationally - that's Harris County's spot. Texas counties average 5.4 psf; Harris County runs 5.4 psf lower than that.
FIPS 48201, population 5,009,302, centered near 29.8573°N 95.393°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 0 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 0 psf design figure above.
Harris County: average annual snowfall
Harris County sees about 0 in. of snow most winters, per the HOUSTON HTS, TX US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Harris 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. Details: the calculation guide.