Sierra County, NM Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Sierra County, NM roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Sierra County is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. 3.5 psf is what the ground-load formula alone gives; Sierra County's 5 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 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. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.
Sierra County, NM: quick facts
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,372 of 2,758
- New Mexico rank#21 of 27
- Population11,389
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.9 in.
- FIPS35051
Where Sierra County ranks
#21 of 27 New Mexico counties by design load, top 86% of 2,758 nationally - that's Sierra County's spot. 6.9 psf is New Mexico's typical county figure - Sierra County comes in 1.9 psf under it.
FIPS 35051, population 11,389, centered near 33.1195°N 107.1882°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.
Sierra County: average annual snowfall
Sierra County sees about 0.9 in. of snow most winters, per the ELEPHANT BUTTE DAM, NM US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Sierra 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.