Northampton County, VA Roof Snow Load - 10 psf
Northampton County, VA roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Northampton County is designed to carry 10 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. §7.3.4's low-slope minimum of 10 psf is what actually governs on a flat or low-pitch roof here - higher than the 7 psf the base ground-load formula gives.
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. This is a modest add-on to standard roof loading - ordinary residential construction carries it without extra bracing.
Northampton County in numbers
- Design roof snow load10 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map10 psf
- National rank#1,981 of 2,758
- Virginia rank#110 of 110
- Population12,004
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal8.5 in.
- FIPS51131
Where Northampton County ranks
#110 of 110 Virginia counties by design load, top 72% of 2,758 nationally - that's Northampton County's spot. 18.3 psf is Virginia's typical county figure - Northampton County comes in 8.3 psf under it.
FIPS 51131, population 12,004, centered near 37.3028°N 75.924°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.
Northampton County: average annual snowfall
Northampton County sees about 8.5 in. of snow most winters, per the N, VA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. 29.8 mi is a real gap between Northampton County and its nearest reporting station, so local snowfall can diverge from this figure, especially near elevation changes. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Northampton 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.