Pickens County, SC Roof Snow Load - 10 psf
Pickens County, SC roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Pickens County is designed to carry 10 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. 7 psf is what the ground-load formula alone gives; Pickens County's 10 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 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. A modest addition to standard roof loading. Ordinary residential construction handles this without extra bracing.
Pickens County, SC: quick facts
- Design roof snow load10 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map10 psf
- National rank#1,692 of 2,758
- South Carolina rank#9 of 46
- Population138,207
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal1 in.
- FIPS45077
Where Pickens County ranks
#9 of 46 South Carolina counties by design load, top 61% of 2,758 nationally - that's Pickens County's spot. That's 1.2 psf above South Carolina's own county-average design load of 8.8 psf.
FIPS 45077, population 138,207, centered near 34.8854°N 82.7234°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.
Pickens County: average annual snowfall
Pickens County sees about 1 in. of snow most winters, per the PICKENS, SC US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Pickens 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.