Ouachita Parish, LA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
How much snow is too much for a roof in Ouachita Parish, LA?
5 psf: that's what ASCE 7-22 requires a typical heated home's roof in Ouachita Parish to carry. The physics-based figure alone would be 3.5 psf, but ASCE 7's own low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) sets a floor of 5 psf for flat and low-pitch roofs here, which is the number that actually governs.
Picture it, not just weigh it: 11 in. if it's fresh powder, 4 in. once it settles, or a mere 1 in. if it's ice. A modest addition to standard roof loading. Ordinary residential construction handles this without extra bracing.
Ouachita Parish at a glance
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,118 of 2,758
- Louisiana rank#3 of 64
- Population157,874
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.1 in.
- FIPS22073
How Ouachita Parish compares
5 psf ranks #2,118 of 2,758 US counties with a mapped snow load (top 77%) - and #3 of 64 in Louisiana. Louisiana counties average 2.4 psf; Ouachita Parish runs 2.6 psf higher than that.
Population 157,874 (FIPS 22073), roughly 32.4809°N 92.1516°W. The 5 psf ground snow load ASCE 7-22 maps here becomes 5 psf once the code's own design factors are applied.
Typical snowfall in Ouachita Parish, LA
NOAA's 30-year normal for Ouachita Parish: 0.1 in. of snow a year, from the W MONROE, LA US station. (fresh vs. packed vs. ice explains why.)
What this Ouachita Parish figure assumes
This is a county-level reference figure for a typical heated home built to Risk Category II (ordinary residential), on a partially exposed lot - the assumptions ASCE 7-22 itself treats as the default case. A steeper roof, a fully exposed hilltop lot, an unheated structure, or a higher risk category all change the actual number.
Ouachita Parish's permit office wants an address-specific figure, not this county average - the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool is free, takes under a minute, and outputs a PDF most reviewers accept. See the methodology guide.