St. Tammany Parish, LA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
St. Tammany Parish, LA: your roof's ASCE 7 snow number, in plain English
St. Tammany Parish's roofs are built to hold 5 psf of snow, the ASCE 7-22 figure a permit reviewer checks first. The physics-based figure alone would be 3.5 psf, but ASCE 7's own low-slope minimum (§7.3.4) sets a floor of 5 psf for flat and low-pitch roofs here, which is the number that actually governs.
In depth, not weight: that's roughly 11 inches of fresh, light snow, 4 inches of old, settled snow, or as little as 1 inches of solid ice - snow that heavy is rare here but ice from a freeze-thaw cycle adds up far faster than the depth suggests. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.
St. Tammany Parish in numbers
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,088 of 2,758
- Louisiana rank#1 of 64
- Population277,615
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0.1 in.
- FIPS22103
St. Tammany Parish by the numbers
Nationally that's #2,088 out of 2,758 rated counties, the top 76%; within Louisiana alone, St. Tammany Parish ranks #1 of 64. That's 2.6 psf above Louisiana's own county-average design load of 2.4 psf.
St. Tammany Parish, FIPS 22103, is home to 277,615 people near 30.41°N 89.952°W. Its 5 psf ground snow load figure is the map value; 5 psf is what a roof is actually designed for.
St. Tammany Parish's snowfall, most winters
0.1 in. a year: that's St. Tammany Parish's NOAA 1991-2020 snowfall normal, measured at COVINGTON 4 NNW, LA US (12.5 mi away). See the density guide.
Before you rely on St. Tammany Parish's number
Treat the St. Tammany Parish figure as a starting point, not a final answer: it assumes standard occupancy, a heated structure and a moderately sheltered site, per ASCE 7-22's own defaults. Exposed terrain, an unheated building or a steeper roof all shift the real number.
For a real application, skip the county number and go straight to the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool - enter your coordinates and it returns a site-specific figure a plan reviewer will recognize. Details: the calculation guide.