SnowLoadCheck

Natchitoches Parish, LA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf

Natchitoches Parish, LA roof snow load, translated

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5 psf

A typical heated home in Natchitoches Parish is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. The physics-based figure alone would be 3.5 psf, but ASCE 7's own low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) sets a floor of 5 psf for flat and low-pitch roofs here, which is the number that actually governs.

On a roof that means 11 in. of fresh snow, 4 in. once it packs down, or 1 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.

Natchitoches Parish at a glance

Where Natchitoches Parish ranks

#10 of 64 Louisiana counties by design load, top 80% of 2,758 nationally - that's Natchitoches Parish's spot. 2.4 psf is Louisiana's typical county figure - Natchitoches Parish beats it by 2.6 psf.

FIPS 22069, population 35,982, centered near 31.7325°N 93.0825°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 5 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 5 psf design figure above.

Natchitoches Parish: average annual snowfall

Natchitoches Parish sees about 0 in. of snow most winters, per the NATCHITOCHES, LA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Natchitoches Parish'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.