Porter County, IN Roof Snow Load - Case Study Area
Why doesn't Porter County have a snow load number?
ASCE 7's own snow load map has no single figure for Porter County: the terrain is complex enough that the code (§7.2) requires an elevation-specific study rather than a county-wide value. That is the map being accurate, not a data gap.
FIPS 18127, population 175,860. 386 US counties get this same case-study treatment; Porter County is one of them.
Porter County at a glance
- Population175,860
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal40.3 in.
- FIPS18127
Porter County: average annual snowfall
Porter County sees about 40.3 in. of snow most winters, per the INDIANA DUNES NL, IN US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Porter 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. Details: the calculation guide.