Henrico County, VA Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Henrico County, VA roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Henrico 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. 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.
Henrico County, VA: quick facts
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map20 psf
- National rank#558 of 2,758
- Virginia rank#15 of 110
- Population338,696
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal6.4 in.
- FIPS51087
Where Henrico County ranks
#15 of 110 Virginia counties by design load, top 20% of 2,758 nationally - that's Henrico County's spot. That's 1.7 psf above Virginia's own county-average design load of 18.3 psf.
FIPS 51087, population 338,696, centered near 37.4375°N 77.3003°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.
Henrico County: average annual snowfall
Henrico County sees about 6.4 in. of snow most winters, per the WAKEFIELD 1NW, VA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. Worth noting: the nearest station reporting snowfall normals sits 35.2 mi from Henrico County's center, so treat this as a regional figure rather than an exact one. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Henrico 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.)