Loudon County, TN Roof Snow Load - 10 psf
Loudon County, TN roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Loudon County is designed to carry 10 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. ASCE 7's low-slope-roof minimum (§7.3.4) raises the governing figure to 10 psf - higher than the 7 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.
On a roof that means 22 in. of fresh snow, 8 in. once it packs down, or 2 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. A modest addition to standard roof loading. Ordinary residential construction handles this without extra bracing.
Snow on Loudon County's roofs right now?
Loudon County in numbers
- Design roof snow load10 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map10 psf
- National rank#1,756 of 2,758
- Tennessee rank#27 of 95
- Population62,129
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal4 in.
- FIPS47105
Where Loudon County ranks
#27 of 95 Tennessee counties by design load, top 64% of 2,758 nationally - that's Loudon County's spot. 10.3 psf is Tennessee's typical county figure - Loudon County comes in 0.3 psf under it.
FIPS 47105, population 62,129, centered near 35.7351°N 84.3141°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 10 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 10 psf design figure above.
Loudon County: average annual snowfall
Loudon County sees about 4 in. of snow most winters, per the LENOIR CITY, TN US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Loudon 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.