SnowLoadCheck

Stewart County, GA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf

How much snow is too much for a roof in Stewart County, GA?

Light
5 psf

5 psf: that's what ASCE 7-22 requires a typical heated home's roof in Stewart County to carry. 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.

Picture it, not just weigh it: 11 in. if it's fresh powder, 4 in. once it settles, or a mere 1 in. if it's ice. Standard residential construction handles a load this size without extra bracing; it is a modest addition on top of ordinary roof loading.

Stewart County in numbers

How Stewart County compares

5 psf ranks #2,432 of 2,758 US counties with a mapped snow load (top 88%) - and #93 of 159 in Georgia. That's 1.4 psf above Georgia's own county-average design load of 3.6 psf.

Population 4,809 (FIPS 13259), roughly 32.0732°N 84.8349°W. The 5 psf ground snow load ASCE 7-22 maps here becomes 5 psf once the code's own design factors are applied.

Typical snowfall in Stewart County, GA

NOAA's 30-year normal for Stewart County: 0 in. of snow a year, from the LUMPKIN 2 SE, GA US station. (fresh vs. packed vs. ice explains why.)

What this Stewart County figure assumes

This is a county-level reference figure for a typical heated home built to Risk Category II (ordinary residential), on a partially exposed lot - the assumptions ASCE 7-22 itself treats as the default case. A steeper roof, a fully exposed hilltop lot, an unheated structure, or a higher risk category all change the actual number.

Stewart County's permit office wants an address-specific figure, not this county average - the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool is free, takes under a minute, and outputs a PDF most reviewers accept. (How this figure is calculated.)