SnowLoadCheck

Wayne County, IN Roof Snow Load - 20 psf

Wayne County, IN roof snow load, translated

Moderate
20 psf

A typical heated home in Wayne County is designed to carry 20 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. Flat and low-pitch roofs in Wayne County are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 20 psf, not the 14 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.

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. A meaningful design load. Most homes built to modern code handle it, but additions, carports, and flat-roofed sections are worth a second look.

Wayne County at a glance

Where Wayne County ranks

#20 of 89 Indiana counties by design load, top 25% of 2,758 nationally - that's Wayne County's spot. 19.3 psf is Indiana's typical county figure - Wayne County beats it by 0.7 psf.

FIPS 18177, population 66,410, centered near 39.8631°N 85.0067°W. ASCE 7's underlying ground snow load here is 20 psf before the code's exposure and importance factors bring it to the 20 psf design figure above.

Wayne County: average annual snowfall

Wayne County sees about 12.4 in. of snow most winters, per the W MANCHESTER 3 WSW, OH US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.

Read this before you use Wayne 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. See the methodology guide.