Ground Snow Loads for the Western United States: State of the Art
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 142, Issue 1
Abstract
A standard defines ground snow loads for much of the nation, with the exception of an 11-state area of the West where the terrain and complex weather patterns require local, regional, and statewide studies. Hence, many western states have published their own standards, which use data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the National Weather Service. The data are analyzed using a variety of snow densities, various probability density functions, and several mapping strategies. This paper presents a summary and information, along with unique features, for 11 western U.S. state reports. Many individual state studies do not agree at state borders, and frequently the standard specifies that case studies are required. Future study is suggested to (1) determine the effects of combining values from different probability density functions, (2) reconcile differing values at state borders, and (3) determine the return period that yields a reliability index of 3, with a load factor of unity so the risk level for snow loads equals that for wind and earthquake loads.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ANSI (American National Standards Institute). (1972). “Building code requirements for minimum design loads in buildings and other structures.” ANSI A58.1-1972, New York.
ASCE. (2010). “Minimum design loads for buildings and other structures.” ASCE/SEI 7-10, Reston, VA.
Auld, H. (1995). “Dependence of ground snow loads on elevation in western Canada.” Western Snow Conf., 143–146.
Brown, J. W. (1970). “An approach to snow load evaluation.” Proc., Western Snow Conf., 52–60.
Daly, C., Neilson, R. P., and Phillips, D. L. (1994). “A statistical-topographic model for mapping climatological precipitation over mountainous terrain.” J. Appl. Meteorol., 33, 140–158.
Ellingwood, B., Galambos, T., MacGregor, J., and Cornel, C. A. (1980). “Development of a probability based load criterion for American National Standard A58.”, National Bureau of Standards, Washington, DC.
Ellingwood, B., and Redfield, R. (1983). “Ground snow loads for structural design.” J. Struct. Eng., 950–964.
Hosking, J. R. M. (1990). “L-moments: Analysis and estimation of distributions using linear combinations of order statistics.” J. Royal Stat. Soc. B, 52(2), 105–124.
Lee, K. H., and Rosowsky, D. V. (2005). “Site-specific snow load models and hazard curves for probabilistic design.” Nat. Hazard. Rev., 109–120.
Maji, A. K. (1999). “Ground snowload database for New Mexico.” Dept. of Public Safety, Santa Fe, NM.
Placer County Building Division. (1985). “Snow load design.” Chapter 4, Placer county code, Auburn, CA.
Sack, R. L., Rusten, A., and Molnau, M. P. (1976). Snow loads for structures in Idaho, University of Idaho Press, Moscow, ID.
Sack, R. L., and Sheikh-Taheri, A. (1986). “Ground and roof snow loads for Idaho.” 〈http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/digital/idahosnow/elevation.html〉 (Dec. 19, 2014).
SEAA (Structural Engineers Association of Arizona). (1981). “Snow load data for Arizona.” Tempe, AZ.
SEAC (Structural Engineers Association of Colorado). (2007). “Snow load design data for Colorado.” Denver.
SEANC (Structural Engineers Association of Northern California). (1964). “Snow load design data for the Lake Tahoe area.” San Francisco.
SEAO (Structural Engineers Association of Oregon). (2007). “Snow load analysis for Oregon.” Salem, OR.
SEAO (Structural Engineers Association of Oregon). (2010). “Oregon snow load map update and interim guidelines for snow load determination for the state of Oregon.” 〈http://www.snowload.seao.org/lookup.html〉 (Dec. 19, 2014).
SEAO (Structural Engineers Association of Oregon). (2012). “An updated snow load map and internet map server for Oregon.” 〈http://www.snowload.seao.org/lookup.html〉 (Dec. 19, 2014).
SEAU (Structural Engineers Association of Utah). (1992). “Snow load analysis for Utah.” Salt Lake City.
SEAW (Structural Engineers Association of Washington). (1995). “Snow load analysis for Washington.” Seattle.
Theisen, F. P., Keller, M. J., Stephens, J. E., Videon, F. F., and Schilke, J. P. (2004). “Snow loads for structural design in Montana.” 〈http://www.coe.montana.edu/snowload/〉 (Dec. 19, 2014).
Tobiasson, W., Buska, J., Greatorex, A., Tirey, J., Fisher, J., and Johnson, S. (2000). “Developing ground snow loads for New Hampshire.” Snow engineering: Recent advances & developments, E. Hjorth-Hansen, I. Holand, S. Loset, and H. Norem, eds., A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 313–321.
Wyoming. (2012). “Wyoming climate atlas 2012.” 〈http://www.wrds.uwyo.edu/sco/climateatlas/toc.html〉 (Dec. 20, 2014).
Zachary, D. (2012). “Snow load calculator.” 〈http://www.zacharyengineering.com/index.php/site/detail/how-the-snow-load-calculator-works〉 (Dec. 20, 2014).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jul 24, 2014
Accepted: Apr 28, 2015
Published online: Jun 12, 2015
Discussion open until: Nov 12, 2015
Published in print: Jan 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.