SnowLoadCheck

McCracken County, KY Roof Snow Load - 15 psf

McCracken County, KY roof snow load, translated

Moderate
15 psf

A typical heated home in McCracken County is designed to carry 15 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. §7.3.4's low-slope minimum of 15 psf is what actually governs on a flat or low-pitch roof here - higher than the 10.5 psf the base ground-load formula gives.

On a roof that means 33 in. of fresh snow, 12 in. once it packs down, or 3 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.

Got real snow on a McCracken County roof right now?

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McCracken County at a glance

Where McCracken County ranks

#26 of 120 Kentucky counties by design load, top 49% of 2,758 nationally - that's McCracken County's spot. Kentucky counties average 15.7 psf; McCracken County runs 0.7 psf lower than that.

FIPS 21145, population 67,550, centered near 37.0541°N 88.7125°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 15 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 15 psf design figure above.

McCracken County: average annual snowfall

McCracken County sees about 3.1 in. of snow most winters, per the BROOKPORT DAM 52, IL US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use McCracken 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.