La Crosse County, WI Roof Snow Load - 28 psf
La Crosse County, WI roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in La Crosse County is designed to carry 28 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.
On a roof that means 61.6 in. of fresh snow, 22.4 in. once it packs down, or 5.6 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. A meaningful design load. Most homes built to modern code handle it, but additions, carports, and flat-roofed sections are worth a second look.
La Crosse County in numbers
- Design roof snow load28 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map40 psf
- National rank#227 of 2,758
- Wisconsin rank#39 of 72
- Population121,060
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal54.2 in.
- FIPS55063
Where La Crosse County ranks
#39 of 72 Wisconsin counties by design load, top 8% of 2,758 nationally - that's La Crosse County's spot. Wisconsin counties average 30.9 psf; La Crosse County runs 2.9 psf lower than that.
FIPS 55063, population 121,060, centered near 43.9082°N 91.1118°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 40 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 28 psf design figure above.
La Crosse County: average annual snowfall
La Crosse County sees about 54.2 in. of snow most winters, per the LA CROSSE WFO, WI US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use La Crosse 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.