Newton County, MO Roof Snow Load - 15 psf
Newton County, MO roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Newton County is designed to carry 15 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. Flat and low-pitch roofs in Newton County are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 15 psf, not the 10.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.
On a roof that means 33 in. of fresh snow, 12 in. once it packs down, or 3 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Modern-code homes carry a load like this without issue; an older addition, a carport, or any flat-roofed section is where it is worth checking first.
Newton County in numbers
- Design roof snow load15 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map15 psf
- National rank#1,370 of 2,758
- Missouri rank#89 of 115
- Population61,519
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal8.1 in.
- FIPS29145
Where Newton County ranks
#89 of 115 Missouri counties by design load, top 50% of 2,758 nationally - that's Newton County's spot. That's 3.6 psf below Missouri's own county-average design load of 18.6 psf.
FIPS 29145, population 61,519, centered near 36.9084°N 94.335°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 15 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 15 psf design figure above.
Newton County: average annual snowfall
Newton County sees about 8.1 in. of snow most winters, per the NEOSHO, MO US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Newton 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.