Minidoka County, ID Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Minidoka County, ID roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Minidoka 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 Minidoka 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.
Minidoka County at a glance
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map20 psf
- National rank#928 of 2,758
- Idaho rank#2 of 9
- Population22,691
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal28.6 in.
- FIPS16067
Where Minidoka County ranks
#2 of 9 Idaho counties by design load, top 34% of 2,758 nationally - that's Minidoka County's spot. 12.2 psf is Idaho's typical county figure - Minidoka County beats it by 7.8 psf.
FIPS 16067, population 22,691, centered near 42.8572°N 113.6398°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.
Minidoka County: average annual snowfall
Minidoka County sees about 28.6 in. of snow most winters, per the RICHFIELD, ID US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. Worth noting: the nearest station reporting snowfall normals sits 29.3 mi from Minidoka County's center, so treat this as a regional figure rather than an exact one. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Minidoka 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.)