New Hanover County, NC Roof Snow Load - 10 psf
New Hanover County, NC roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in New Hanover County is designed to carry 10 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. Flat and low-pitch roofs in New Hanover County are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 10 psf, not the 7 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.
On a roof that means 22 in. of fresh snow, 8 in. once it packs down, or 2 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.
New Hanover County, NC: quick facts
- Design roof snow load10 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map10 psf
- National rank#1,677 of 2,758
- North Carolina rank#55 of 100
- Population243,333
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.9 in.
- FIPS37129
Where New Hanover County ranks
#55 of 100 North Carolina counties by design load, top 61% of 2,758 nationally - that's New Hanover County's spot. North Carolina counties average 12.9 psf; New Hanover County runs 2.9 psf lower than that.
FIPS 37129, population 243,333, centered near 34.1834°N 77.8642°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 10 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 10 psf design figure above.
New Hanover County: average annual snowfall
New Hanover County sees about 0.9 in. of snow most winters, per the LELAND 5.7 WSW, NC US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use New Hanover 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. See the methodology guide.