SnowLoadCheck

Rusk County, WI Roof Snow Load - 42 psf

Rusk County, WI roof snow load, translated

Heavy
42 psf

A typical heated home in Rusk County is designed to carry 42 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22.

On a roof that means 92.4 in. of fresh snow, 33.6 in. once it packs down, or 8.4 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. A load this size is a serious structural matter; pre-modern-code homes and low-slope or flat-roofed sections are the ones most worth an inspection.

Rusk County, WI: quick facts

Where Rusk County ranks

#13 of 72 Wisconsin counties by design load, top 2% of 2,758 nationally - that's Rusk County's spot. Wisconsin counties average 30.9 psf; Rusk County runs 11.1 psf higher than that.

FIPS 55107, population 14,168, centered near 45.4727°N 91.1367°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 60 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 42 psf design figure above.

Rusk County: average annual snowfall

Rusk County sees about 52.1 in. of snow most winters, per the LADYSMITH 3W, WI US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Rusk 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.