Talbot County, MD Roof Snow Load - 20 psf
Talbot County, MD roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Talbot County is designed to carry 20 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. §7.3.4's low-slope minimum of 20 psf is what actually governs on a flat or low-pitch roof here - higher than the 17.5 psf the base ground-load formula gives.
On a roof that means 44 in. of fresh snow, 16 in. once it packs down, or 4 in. of solid ice - three very different piles for the same load. Modern-code homes carry a load like this without issue; an older addition, a carport, or any flat-roofed section is where it is worth checking first.
Talbot County in numbers
- Design roof snow load20 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map25 psf
- National rank#793 of 2,758
- Maryland rank#17 of 21
- Population38,244
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal12.8 in.
- FIPS24041
Where Talbot County ranks
#17 of 21 Maryland counties by design load, top 29% of 2,758 nationally - that's Talbot County's spot. That's 0.1 psf below Maryland's own county-average design load of 20.1 psf.
FIPS 24041, population 38,244, centered near 38.7483°N 76.1785°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 25 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 20 psf design figure above.
Talbot County: average annual snowfall
Talbot County sees about 12.8 in. of snow most winters, per the GREENWOOD 2NE, DE US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. 32.8 mi is a real gap between Talbot County and its nearest reporting station, so local snowfall can diverge from this figure, especially near elevation changes. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Talbot 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.