Runnels County, TX Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Runnels County, TX roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Runnels County is designed to carry 5 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 5 psf - higher than the 3.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.
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.
Runnels County in numbers
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,385 of 2,758
- Texas rank#164 of 254
- Population9,751
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal1.3 in.
- FIPS48399
Where Runnels County ranks
#164 of 254 Texas counties by design load, top 86% of 2,758 nationally - that's Runnels County's spot. Texas counties average 5.4 psf; Runnels County runs 0.4 psf lower than that.
FIPS 48399, population 9,751, centered near 31.8451°N 99.9827°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.
Runnels County: average annual snowfall
Runnels County sees about 1.3 in. of snow most winters, per the GLEN COVE 2 NE, TX US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Runnels 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.