Union Parish, LA Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Union Parish, LA roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Union Parish is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. §7.3.4's low-slope minimum of 5 psf is what actually governs on a flat or low-pitch roof here - higher than the 3.5 psf the base ground-load formula gives.
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.
Union Parish in numbers
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,292 of 2,758
- Louisiana rank#16 of 64
- Population20,617
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal1.2 in.
- FIPS22111
Where Union Parish ranks
#16 of 64 Louisiana counties by design load, top 83% of 2,758 nationally - that's Union Parish's spot. Louisiana counties average 2.4 psf; Union Parish runs 2.6 psf higher than that.
FIPS 22111, population 20,617, centered near 32.8293°N 92.3756°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.
Union Parish: average annual snowfall
Union Parish sees about 1.2 in. of snow most winters, per the FARMERVILLE, LA US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Union Parish'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.)