Sebastian County, AR Roof Snow Load - 10 psf
Sebastian County, AR roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Sebastian 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; Sebastian 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.
Sebastian County at a glance
- Design roof snow load10 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map10 psf
- National rank#1,697 of 2,758
- Arkansas rank#11 of 75
- Population130,035
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal2.9 in.
- FIPS05131
Where Sebastian County ranks
#11 of 75 Arkansas counties by design load, top 62% of 2,758 nationally - that's Sebastian County's spot. That's 0.1 psf below Arkansas's own county-average design load of 10.1 psf.
FIPS 05131, population 130,035, centered near 35.197°N 94.275°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.
Sebastian County: average annual snowfall
Sebastian County sees about 2.9 in. of snow most winters, per the FT SMITH RGNL AP, AR US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Sebastian 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.)