Platte County, NE Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Platte County, NE roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Platte County is designed to carry 20 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. ASCE 7's low-slope-roof minimum (§7.3.4) raises the governing figure to 20 psf - higher than the 17.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.
On a roof that means 44 in. of fresh snow, 16 in. once it packs down, or 4 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. This is a meaningful design load - most modern-code homes handle it fine, though an addition, a carport or a flat-roofed section can be a weak spot.
Platte County at a glance
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map25 psf
- National rank#816 of 2,758
- Nebraska rank#22 of 93
- Population35,499
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal25.6 in.
- FIPS31141
Where Platte County ranks
#22 of 93 Nebraska counties by design load, top 30% of 2,758 nationally - that's Platte County's spot. That's 0.2 psf below Nebraska's own county-average design load of 20.2 psf.
FIPS 31141, population 35,499, centered near 41.5769°N 97.5135°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 25 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 20 psf design figure above.
Platte County: average annual snowfall
Platte County sees about 25.6 in. of snow most winters, per the COLUMBUS 3 NE, NE US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Platte 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.)