Design Ground Snow Loads for Ohio

Abstract

The weight of snow with a mean recurrence interval of 50 years, called the design ground snow load, is used by engineers and planners to estimate the weight of snow that roofs must be designed to support National maps of ground snow load have small scales, showing little detail at the state level, and present data with apparent inconsistencies. Snow water equivalent data at ten National Weather Service officer in Ohio and adjacent states were examined to obtain a typical density of 0.15 g cm−3 for the snowpacks with the greatest snow loads. After critical review of 1948–90 daily snow-depth data, 50-yr return-period snow depths were determined for 55 site in Ohio. Design ground snow loads were calculated for these sites by applying the density of 0.15 g cm−3 to the 50-yr return-period snow depths. Several differences were noted between these result and previous maps. Minimum design ground snow loads specified in Ohio building codes are 5–10 lb ft−2 greater than reported here for western Ohio and the Lake Erie snowbelt.