SnowLoadCheck

Wells County, IN Roof Snow Load - 20 psf

What ASCE 7 says about snow load in Wells County

Moderate
20 psf

That's Wells County's design roof snow load per ASCE 7-22, for a typical heated single-family home - the number a permit reviewer starts from. ASCE 7's low-slope-roof minimum (§7.3.4) raises the governing figure to 20 psf - higher than the 14 psf the ground-load formula alone would give, and the code says use the larger one.

Converted to something you can actually eyeball on a roof: about 44 in. of fresh powder, 16 in. once it settles and packs down, or just 4 in. if it's turned to ice. 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.

Snow on Wells County's roofs right now?

in. of

Wells County in numbers

Where Wells County's figure sits nationally

Out of 2,758 rated US counties, Wells County sits at #873, the top 32% nationally - #46 of 89 within Indiana. Indiana counties average 19.3 psf; Wells County runs 0.7 psf higher than that.

Near 40.7355°N 85.2133°W, FIPS 18179: Wells County counts 28,798 residents and a 20 psf map value, which the code's own factors turn into 20 psf.

How much it actually snows in Wells County

Most winters bring Wells County roughly 23.3 in. of snow - NOAA's normal at BLUFFTON 6N, IN US, 6.2 mi off. (fresh vs. packed vs. ice explains why.)

Read this before you rely on it

Wells County's number above is ASCE 7-22's default case, not a custom calculation: ordinary residential occupancy, heated, sited on ground that's neither fully sheltered nor fully exposed. Any one of those changing - pitch, exposure, heating, occupancy - moves the real figure.

Nothing here substitutes for an address-level number. Get one free, in about a minute, from the ASCE 7 Hazard Tool using your own coordinates rather than Wells County's county-wide figure. (How this figure is calculated.)