Nelson County, ND Roof Snow Load - 35 psf
Nelson County, ND roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Nelson 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. This is a serious structural load - older homes built before modern snow-load provisions, or ones with low-slope or flat roof sections, are worth having checked.
Nelson County at a glance
- Design roof snow load35 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map50 psf
- National rank#211 of 2,758
- North Dakota rank#14 of 49
- Population3,007
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal42.5 in.
- FIPS38063
Where Nelson County ranks
#14 of 49 North Dakota counties by design load, top 8% of 2,758 nationally - that's Nelson County's spot. North Dakota counties average 29.4 psf; Nelson County runs 5.6 psf higher than that.
FIPS 38063, population 3,007, centered near 47.9187°N 98.2044°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.
Nelson County: average annual snowfall
Nelson County sees about 42.5 in. of snow most winters, per the PETERSBURG 2 N, ND US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Nelson 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.