Wilcox County, AL Roof Snow Load - 5 psf
Wilcox County, AL roof snow load, translated
A typical heated home in Wilcox County is designed to carry 5 pounds per square foot of snow on its roof, per ASCE 7-22. Flat and low-pitch roofs in Wilcox County are actually governed by ASCE 7's §7.3.4 minimum of 5 psf, not the 3.5 psf the ground-load formula alone would produce.
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. This is a modest add-on to standard roof loading - ordinary residential construction carries it without extra bracing.
Wilcox County at a glance
- Design roof snow load5 psf
- Ground snow load, ASCE 7 map5 psf
- National rank#2,383 of 2,758
- Alabama rank#55 of 67
- Population9,865
- Annual snowfall, NOAA normal0 in.
- FIPS01131
Where Wilcox County ranks
#55 of 67 Alabama counties by design load, top 86% of 2,758 nationally - that's Wilcox County's spot. 5.6 psf is Alabama's typical county figure - Wilcox County comes in 0.6 psf under it.
FIPS 01131, population 9,865, centered near 31.9901°N 87.3049°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.
Wilcox County: average annual snowfall
Wilcox County sees about 0 in. of snow most winters, per the MILLERS FERRY L&D, AL US station's 1991-2020 NOAA normal. See the density guide.
Read this before you use Wilcox 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.