Oglethorpe County, GA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Oglethorpe County, GA roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Oglethorpe County is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. 3.5 psf is what the ground-load formula alone gives; Oglethorpe County's 5 psf low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) beats it, so that figure is the one that governs on flat and low-pitch roofs.
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. This is a modest add-on to standard roof loading - ordinary residential construction carries it without extra bracing.
Oglethorpe County at a glance
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,327 of 2,758
- Georgia rank#74 of 159
- Population16,172
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.5 in.
- FIPS13221
Where Oglethorpe County ranks
#74 of 159 Georgia counties by design load, top 84% of 2,758 nationally - that's Oglethorpe County's spot. 3.6 psf is Georgia's typical county figure - Oglethorpe County beats it by 1.4 psf.
FIPS 13221, population 16,172, centered near 33.8668°N 83.0741°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.
Oglethorpe County: average annual snowfall
Oglethorpe County sees about 0.5 in. of snow most winters, per the LEXINGTON, GA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Oglethorpe 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. (How this figure is calculated.)