Mower County, MN Roof Snow Load - 35 psf
Mower County, MN roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Mower County is designed to carry 35 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.
On a roof that means 77 in. of fresh snow, 28 in. once it packs down, or 7 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. A load this size is a serious structural matter; pre-modern-code homes and low-slope or flat-roofed sections are the ones most worth an inspection.
Mower County, MN: quick facts
- Design roof snow load35 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map50 psf
- National rank#132 of 2,758
- Minnesota rank#50 of 87
- Population40,900
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal50.6 in.
- FIPS27099
Where Mower County ranks
#50 of 87 Minnesota counties by design load, top 5% of 2,758 nationally - that's Mower County's spot. That's 2.4 psf below Minnesota's own county-average design load of 37.4 psf.
FIPS 27099, population 40,900, centered near 43.6662°N 92.7595°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 50 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 35 psf design figure above.
Mower County: average annual snowfall
Mower County sees about 50.6 in. of snow most winters, per the GRAND MEADOW, MN US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Mower 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.