Beats the old record of two feet of snow:
Posted on 11/18/2022 2:02:54 PM PST by Libloather
It's one thing to say it snowed more than 3 feet. It's another when you think about how much that weighs.
Upstate New York, especially Buffalo and Watertown, is getting hammered by a potentially historic winter storm dumping more than 3 feet on spots -- and barely anything on others a few miles away. How does that work?
Well, that's lake-effect snow for you. Learn how it forms and more about that weather phenomenon here.
**SNIP**
Old snow is even heavier. We crunched some numbers using estimates of snow weights and vehicles from various sources. Check out the equivalents of the average weight of a foot and more of snow (and old snow) on your roof.
Average weight of 12" of fresh snow on a roof: 7,000 pounds = 2 compact SUVs parked on the roof
Average weight of 24" of fresh snow on a roof: 15,000 pounds = 4 compact SUVs parked on the roof
Average weight of 36" of fresh snow on a roof: 22,000 pounds = 6 compact SUVs parked on the roof
Average weight of 48" of fresh snow on a roof: 30,000 pounds = 9 compact SUVs parked on the roof
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnewyork.com ...
Doesn’t get yellow without a small bit of melting ...
BUY AN EV THIS WEEKEND OR WE WILL ALL DIE.
What roof? My car roof? Or my house roof?
No matter...I can see why my grandpa died in the driveway shoveling the stuff. Tons and tons and tons of the stuff. That’s why I’ve got a snowplow service doing our driveway.
i’ve shoveled the roof a few times...
Travelled many times between Chicago and Levittown, PA and lake effect snow is no joke. Drops serious amounts of snow in a relatively short time and typically accompanied by/with white-outs.
How warm was the snow?
People outside Buffalo like to marvel about the snow but somehow Buffalo chugs along.
Good golly.
It’s winter...in upper New York. Have they not figured out snow yet?
They have roof shovels in Buffalo. Imagine a hoe with a 20 foot handle. The snow could collapse the roof
WhenI went to school in Buffalo snow plowing priority depended on the politics of where you lived. Luckily my landlord drove a snow plow.
“...weight of 12” of fresh snow on a roof: 7,000 pounds...”
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Depends on the size of the roof.
Don’t they have building codes that specify snow loads?
We may be seeing the end of snow
—NY Times 2014
I live in Lake Effect Ohio and I refuse to shovel snow. I am sure that Bill Gates would love me to die shoveling snow, but Bill looks like he never played sports.
That will work particularly well in Buffalo. /s
Back in the 90’s I had consulting gigs at Xerox in Webster and J&J in Rochester. Everyone had these 1970’s junkers as a second car for winter. People would decorate their land yachts. It was sort of a competition.
They left out a lot of math.
What is the area of the “average roof” in square ft?
To determine the snow load they need to take the weight of the and divided it the square feet.
Example: If the roof area is 1500sf then the snow load would be 10,000/1500 = 6.7PSF
Modern building code is 20-30PSF snow load
Beats the old record of two feet of snow:
I should add that areas of heavy snow will have stricter snow load requirements to withstand heavier events
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