Kent County, MD Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Kent County, MD roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Kent County is designed to carry 20 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. The physics-based figure alone would be 17.5 psf, but ASCE 7's own low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) sets a floor of 20 psf for flat and low-pitch roofs here, which is the number that actually governs.
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.
Kent County, MD: quick facts
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map25 psf
- National rank#964 of 2,758
- Maryland rank#21 of 21
- Population19,557
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal16.7 in.
- FIPS24029
Where Kent County ranks
#21 of 21 Maryland counties by design load, top 35% of 2,758 nationally - that's Kent County's spot. That's 0.1 psf below Maryland's own county-average design load of 20.1 psf.
FIPS 24029, population 19,557, centered near 39.2413°N 76.126°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 25 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 20 psf design figure above.
Kent County: average annual snowfall
Kent County sees about 16.7 in. of snow most winters, per the CHESTERTOWN, MD US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Kent 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.