Letcher County, KY Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Letcher County, KY roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Letcher County is designed to carry 20 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. Flat and low-pitch roofs in Letcher County are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 20 psf, not the 14 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.
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. A meaningful design load. Most homes built to modern code handle it, but additions, carports, and flat-roofed sections are worth a second look.
Letcher County at a glance
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map20 psf
- National rank#959 of 2,758
- Kentucky rank#10 of 120
- Population20,139
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal16.7 in.
- FIPS21133
Where Letcher County ranks
#10 of 120 Kentucky counties by design load, top 35% of 2,758 nationally - that's Letcher County's spot. Kentucky counties average 15.7 psf; Letcher County runs 4.3 psf higher than that.
FIPS 21133, population 20,139, centered near 37.1185°N 82.8613°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.
Letcher County: average annual snowfall
Letcher County sees about 16.7 in. of snow most winters, per the SKYLINE 1 SE, KY US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Letcher 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.)