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There are 7.48 gallons per cubic foot of water – that’s about 62.4 pounds. For Wet Snow Let’s say wet snow would be equivalent to 1″ of rain or 5″ of snow, you would get a resulting 62.4/5 = 12.5 pounds.The chart below, courtesy of Paul Schimnowski, P.E., gives some examples of snow loads. I weighed a section of undisturbed snow, using a 5-gallon bucket, which has a footprint of approximately 2/3 of a square foot. This weighed 9.5 lbs, so a full square foot would weigh less than 15 pounds, or 15 psf.The actual water content of snow commonly ranges from 5% to 32%. 20% is about average for a Midwestern snowfall. This means the snow weighs 20% of what pure water would weigh. That means the same volume of snow only weighs 12.48 pounds per cubic foot.
Contents
How much does a 5 gallon bucket of snow weigh?
The chart below, courtesy of Paul Schimnowski, P.E., gives some examples of snow loads. I weighed a section of undisturbed snow, using a 5-gallon bucket, which has a footprint of approximately 2/3 of a square foot. This weighed 9.5 lbs, so a full square foot would weigh less than 15 pounds, or 15 psf.
Does snow weigh the same as water?
The actual water content of snow commonly ranges from 5% to 32%. 20% is about average for a Midwestern snowfall. This means the snow weighs 20% of what pure water would weigh. That means the same volume of snow only weighs 12.48 pounds per cubic foot.
What does 2 feet of snow weigh?
As a rule of thumb, snow weighs approximately 20 pounds per cubic foot, or 1.25 pounds per inch of depth. Depending on moisture content, snow can weigh from 1 pound per cubic foot to over 21 pounds per cubic foot. NOTE: Any ice build-up on the roof would need to be added to this formula.
How heavy is dry snow?
A fluffy or dry snow weighs about 4 pounds per square foot. “Normal” snow comes in at 6 pounds per square foot. And a wet snow, is close to 13 pounds per square foot. Most houses can withstand 20 pounds per square foot.
How much does 12 inches of snow weigh?
To calculate the weight of snow, you take 7.48 gallons of per cubic foot of water, which is about 62.4 pounds. You then divide it by the amount of snow (in inches). Light and fluffy snow weigh the least. If it snows 12” of light and fluffy snow, it will weigh about 5.2 pounds.
What does 20 lb snow load mean?
This downward imposed load on the home is also known as the snow load. The North Zone design live load equates to 40 pounds per square foot, the Middle Zone equates to 30 pounds per square foot, and the South Zone equates to 20 pounds per square foot.
Does rain make snow heavy?
The increase in weight can get dramatic. Plus, the weight of snow varies depending upon the temperature and moisture content. A 12-inch snow depth can weight from 10-lbs to 20-lbs a square foot. It’s the rain on top of this that is the real problem.
Why is snow heavy?
For heavier snowfall, the atmosphere needs to continously bring moisture into the clouds so that snow continues to be produced and fall to the ground. The more effectively the atmosphere is able to bring moisture to the clouds, the heavier the snow may be.
How heavy is a 5 foot cube of ice?
I did a quick calculation and it said that a 5ft cube of ice (used 0.918 gram/cm3 for density) could support a weight of about 290kg or 640lbs without sinking.
How much snow weight can a roof hold?
Most roofs can withstand 20 pounds per square foot of snow.
How much does a gallon of ice water weigh?
Initially, the weight of water was defined as 1 kg/liter. However, the definition was discarded since the density of water is affected by changes in temperatures and atmospheric pressure. The answer is simple; a gallon of water weighs about 8.3 pounds.
How much does a shovel full of snow weigh?
According to the NWS, a standard snow shovel is about 1.5 square feet, so every shovel full of yesterday’s snow weighs about 5.7 pounds. If your driveway is 18 feet by 20 feet and you shovel it clean this AM, you will have moved over a ton of snow!
Is Wet snow heavier than dry snow?
Wet snow not only sticks to everything, but it is also heavier than dry snow. One inch of wet snow can contain 2 to 3 times more water than one inch of dry snow, making it that much heavier.
What is wet snow called?
Sleet, shown here with a penny for scale, is composed of small, translucent balls of ice. Sleet is often the result of rain that freezes as it falls to the ground. —Credit: Wikimedia Commons. Snowflakes are single ice crystals or clusters of ice crystals that fall from a cloud.
Is wet or dry snow better?
Wet snow is great for making snow balls and it is a sticky snow. Dry snow is powdery, easily blown around by the wind and is not sticky. What determines the wetness or dryness of the snow is the amount of liquid content within the falling snow.
How much does a full 5 gallon bucket weigh?
How Much Does A Five-Gallon Bucket Weight When Filled With Liquid? The five-gallon bucket is going to weigh 42 pounds when it is filled with water.
How many pounds are in a 5 gallon bucket?
Based on my math, a typical 5 gallon bucket holds 0.71 cubic feet of anything you want. Filled with water, it will hold 42 pounds of the stuff, not counting the weight of the bucket (typically 2 pounds.)
What does 5 gallons weigh?
| Gallons of water | Pounds | Kilos |
|---|---|---|
| 5 gallons | 41.64 lb | 18.89 kg |
| 6 gallons | 49.97 lb | 22.67 kg |
| 7 gallons | 58.3 lb | 26.45 kg |
| 8 gallons | 66.63 lb | 30.22 kg |
How many tons are in a 5 gallon bucket?
Regarding this, how many a 5 gallon bucket in a ton of dirt, a 5 gallon bucket of dirt yields 0.0275 tons weight, so 5 gallon buckets of dirt in 1 ton = 1/0.0275 = 36, so there are approx 36 buckets of 5 gallon in a ton of dirt.
how much does a gallon of snow weigh
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Q&A: “How much snow is safe for my roof?” – Structure Tech Home Inspections
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How many pounds does one gallon of snow weigh? – Answers
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- Most searched keywords: Whether you are looking for How many pounds does one gallon of snow weigh? – Answers A gallon of water weighs about 8.33 lbs, so using my logic, which is based more on rules of thumb than science, a gallon of snow will weigh 8.33 … You can’t really say how much a gallon of snow will weigh without knowing the density of the snowfall. However, a general rule of thumb used for determining precipitation for snowfall is a ratio of 7 to 1. So, if you get seven inches of snowfall in the winter, it will be equivalent to 1 inch of rainfall. Since you can’t truly determine the density based on a depth, it is probably safe to assume that the volume ratio for snow to water is also 7:1. A gallon of water weighs about 8.33 lbs, so using my logic, which is based more on rules of thumb than science, a gallon of snow will weigh 8.33/7 = 1.19 lbs. Compacted snow would obviously be much heavier though.A gallon of snow (which is mostly air around tiny ice crystals) will weigh much less than a gallon of solid ice.Fresh snow has a density of roughly 0.1 g/ml; packed snow can have a density around 0.3 g/ml; a solid block of ice has a density of about 0.92g/ml.
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Snow Weight Calculator – Inch Calculator
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Weight of Snow • Comprehensive Reference Chart
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Q&A: “How much snow is safe for my roof?”
The record-setting snowfall that we’ve received here in Minnesota raises concerns about how much snow a roof can hold. Should you remove snow from your roof to prevent a collapse?
I have good news for you; there’s probably nothing to worry about.
The required roof snow loads for Minnesota aren’t clearly spelled out anywhere, but the numbers can be found by using Table R301.2(1) of the Minnesota Administrative Rules. This table says that roof snow loads equal .7 times the ground snow load. To find the ground snow load, we use section 1303.1700 of the Minnesota Administrative Rules. The southern portion of Minnesota, which includes the Twin Cities metro area, uses a ground snow load of 50 pounds per square foot. The northern portion uses 60 pounds per square foot.
For the Twin Cities metro area, the roof snow load equals 35 pounds per square foot, or .7 x 50. So how much snow does this equal? It depends. As everyone knows, cold fluffy snow is very light, while wet snow can be extremely heavy. The chart below, courtesy of Paul Schimnowski, P.E., gives some examples of snow loads.
I weighed a section of undisturbed snow, using a 5-gallon bucket, which has a footprint of approximately 2/3 of a square foot.
This weighed 9.5 lbs, so a full square foot would weigh less than 15 pounds, or 15 psf.
There’s nothing to worry about
If you have a properly constructed roof, you shouldn’t have to worry about your roof collapsing. We’re not even halfway there. Not only that, but snow on a sloped roof typically isn’t as deep. Not only that, but snow drifts are the result of light, fluffy snow blowing around; not heavy wet snow. Not only that, but moisture evaporates from snow over time, making it lighter and lighter as time goes on. And finally, 35 pounds per square foot is a minimum requirement.
If you have ice dams, however, removing the snow is the good thing to do. Use a roof rake or hire someone to do it professionally.
DO NOT walk on your roof to remove snow. This is extremely dangerous. The person pictured above may or may not have fallen off of the roof right after I took this picture. When professional ice dam companies remove snow from roofs, they wear safety harnesses.
How Much Does Roof Snow Weigh? | Ice Dam Guys®: Best-Rated Ice Dam Removal Near You & in USA
To some, snow on the roof is a charming winter scene that reminds you of gingerbread houses at Christmas. It may look nice, until it’s a nightmare.
Snow on your roof can become enough of hazard that it can bring the entire structure crashing down. That’s not a concern limited to rickety old homes. Any roof can collapse. Even the roof on the Metrodome collapsed, and it was built specifically with a snowy & cold climate in mind.
It’s important to know how much snow is just too much snow, and when to get it removed. To know that, you need to know how much snow weighs.
Between my nearly 20 years of experience as an ice dam removal professional, and some research and number-crunching, I’ve got some answers (which I’ll get to in a minute).
Some parts of this article are faster reading than others. I wanted to share my “lab notes” if you’re interested. In case not, I’ve also tried to make this skimmable.
How much the snow on your roof weighs depends on many factors. There is no one hard number. Even stating how much any given cubic foot of snow weighs is actually harder than it looks.
Factor: The shape of snow.
No two snowflakes are alike. Every snowflake is a tiny, crystalline ice structure. A snowflake falls when a tiny droplet of water falls at a high altitude. As it falls to Earth, additional moisture attaches to the already-frozen droplet, creating little branches. By the time that snowflake reaches your roof, hundreds of these branches have formed, creating a really complex structure. That structure determines how the snow will pack when it piles up on your roof.
Fortunately, you don’t have to get a microscope to evaluate the structure. You can make some generalizations. You either get light, fluffy snow, or you get that thick, heavy, watery snow.
(Images are courtesy of Don Moore of the National Weather Service)
You can also predict how this is going to go, a little bit, by noting the temperature when the snow starts to fall. Counterintuitively, colder weather is less hazardous to your roof. For example, 10-degree weather tends to produce light, fluffy snow. Conversely, 31-degree weather will produce wet, heavy snow. The closer it is to freezing (32 degrees), the more potentially dangerous to your roof the snow becomes.
Incidentally, the same higher temperature ranges are likely to create the ideal conditions for ice dams as well. Ice dams can form long before you’re likely to face a roof collapse. Therefore, if you know you have a home that is prone to ice dams, you’ll want to be on your snow-removal game and rake your roof after every six inches or so of accumulation.
Key points:
No two snowflakes are alike, which makes it hard to make generalizations about snow weight.
Snowflakes with well-defined branches are lighter, fluffier, and less dangerous.
Colder weather produces lighter snow. The closer temperatures are to freezing, the wetter, heavier, and more dangerous snow becomes.
The same temperature conditions that create heavy snow also create the ideal weather conditions for ice dams.
If your home is prone to ice dams, rake your roof after every six inches of snow accumulation.
Factors: Weight and water content.
Of course, none of this discussion on snowflake shape and snow type tells us much about the actual weight of snow. For that, we have to dig in and crunch some numbers.
First, let’s establish a few facts and get our bearings straight.
First, snow is just frozen water, so measuring the weight of one cubic foot of water is a good start, even though snow holds different amounts of water, depending on its shape. One cubic foot of water weighs approximately 62.4 pounds. That’s the size of a box measuring one foot, by one foot, by one foot
But one cubic foot of snow will weigh less than that, and the amount it weighs will depend on how much water is actually contained in the snow. The actual water content of snow commonly ranges from 5% to 32%. 20% is about average for a Midwestern snowfall. This means the snow weighs 20% of what pure water would weigh. That means the same volume of snow only weighs 12.48 pounds per cubic foot. If the saturation reaches 32%, by the way, you’re looking at 19.92 pounds per cubic foot.
Most of us don’t measure snow in terms of feet, so let’s break this down into inches. If you divide 12.48 (what one cubic foot of average snow weighs) by 12, that equals 1.04. That means 1’’ of average snow accumulation weighs 1.04 pounds per square foot.
All that math brings me to a rule of thumb I’ve used for years. It’s one that simplifies matters, because there’s really no easy way to measure the water content of the snow on your roof – not without going through a bunch of crazy, possibly dangerous, time-consuming shenanigans nobody in their right mind wants to go through. I’ve seen snow geeks talk about cutting a cubic foot of snow off the roof, taking it inside to melt it down, and measuring the results. That’s madness. For one thing, it means getting up on your wet, icy, slick, slippery roof in the dead of winter, attempting to cut an exact cubic foot of snow and attempting to haul it all down to conduct what amounts to a useless, time-devouring experiment.
So here’s my educated, math-informed rule of thumb:
1 inch of snowfall on the roof weighs approximately one pound per square foot.
We’ve already established the water content of snow can range anywhere from 5% to 32%, which would mean 1” of snow ranges from .26 pounds per square foot (“PSF”) to 1.66 PSF. To find the average weight of the snow, add those numbers and divide by 2. We get an average of .96 lbs., which is mighty close to 1 pound. (However, you might note right away that especially wet or heavy snow can easily be closer to 2 pounds PSF—note the conditions outside, and use your common sense).
From that, you’ve got a handy formula you can use to determine approximately how many pounds of snow are on your roof: just multiply the inches of snow that have fallen by the square footage of your roof. That number is approximately the number of pounds of snow on your roof.
So, for example, if you got three inches of snowfall and you have an average-sized 2000-square-foot roof, your roof is holding 6000 pounds of snow. That’s like melting two stripped-down SUVs (each weighing 3470 pounds) into a slab of steel and laying that slab on your roof.
That number can be even more dramatic, depending on a few factors.
If the snow on your roof is extremely wet and heavy, you can multiply the “inches of snow times square footage of roof” sum by 1.66 to get a worst-case scenario figure. (In the above example, that comes out to 9960 pounds.)
For an average-size roof (about 2000 square feet) covered in heavy wet snow, a good rule of thumb is the weight of one compact SUV (3,470 lbs.) on your roof for every 1-inch of snow.
It is also important to remember that that math doesn’t take into account any ice you have on your roof, which weighs much more than heavy wet snow weighs.
Key points:
The water content of any given cubic foot of snow can strongly influence how much the snow actually weighs.
1 cubic foot of water weighs 62.4 lbs. One cubic foot of snow usually weighs 5% to 32% of that. In the Midwest, the water content of a cubic foot of snow averages about 20%, or 12.48 pounds. By the way, none of our scenarios takes into account the weight of snow after it has soaked up falling rain. Rain can easily double the weight of already heavy/wet snow.
1 cubic foot of ice weighs 57.2 lbs, which is more than five times the weight of even the wettest, heaviest snow. None of our scenarios takes into account the presence and/or weight of ice , which is almost always accompanies snow
The average roof in the U.S. measures about 2000 square feet.
The average compact SUV weighs about 3470 lbs.
A rule of thumb – regarding the weight of average snow: One inch of snow, on average, weighs 1 lb. per square foot. That knowledge is what tells you that mere 1.75 inches of average-weight snow on a typical roof is the equivalent of one compact SUV parked on the roof.
A rule of thumb regarding the weight of light, fluffy snow: One inch of snow weighs 0.26 pounds per square foot. That means for every 6.5 inches of snowfall you’ve got the weight of a compact SUV on your roof.
A rule of thumb regarding the weight of heavy, wet snow: One inch of snow weighs 1.66 pounds per square foot. That means that for every single inch of heavy, wet snow on an average-sized roof, you’ve got the equivalent of one compact SUV parked up there.
How much weight can the average roof support? How much snow can it take?
Determining your roof’s capacity to handle snow is even more complicated, because weight is not the only factor influencing how much your roof can handle.
For instance, what condition is your roof in? An older roof with rotted supports (you may not know about yet) can take much less snow than a new, fully functional, well-maintained roof.
The pitch of the roof makes a big difference, too. A steep roof does a much better job of handling snow than a flat roof does. The roof-pitch affects weight distribution, allowing it to hold a little more snowpack safely. In addition, the slope of the roof helps to dump some of that snow back on the ground, removing more stress. The wind also blows the snow more easily off of a steeper-pitched roof.
A flat roof, by contrast, is in danger of collapsing much faster. Most roof collapses happen on flat roofs because all of that weight just sits there (i.e. dead weight with no disbursement or displacement whatsoever). When you get just a few inches of snow on a flat roof, it quickly becomes the equivalent of parking a car or two up there. Not good.
The year your house was built also matters. If your house was constructed after 1971 (in Minnesota for instance) it would have been held to long-standing building codes that require roofing to support 40 pounds per square foot. If your house was built in the 1920s, however, your roofing can probably withstand only 30 pounds per square foot.
Even all those roofing factors are not the only factors that determine the likelihood of a collapse. The weather matters, too.
Wind is a factor. Snow doesn’t fall in a nice, neat, even carpet to begin with. Snow drifts. More wind means more drifts. You might have had 8 inches of snow last night, but that doesn’t mean there are 8 inches of snow spread evenly over your roof, like frosting on a cake. Some parts of your roof won’t have much snow at all, and some parts may have a two foot or even a four-foot drift. That’s putting a lot of pressure on one concentrated area of your roof. Again, not good.
Winter rain is a problem. The snow on your roof absorbs rain like a dry sponge, and as a result becomes much heavier. And if we have snow melting during the day and re-freezing at night (again, the perfect conditions for an ice dam), you could be building up a layer of ice atop your roof. The presence of “Ice” completely changes the game when it comes to the question “How much does snow weigh?” With the presence of ice, the load on your roof could easily exceed that moisture level of 32%, which means you could be dealing with two or even three pounds per square foot (per inch of snow). That’s the equivalent of a Toyota Prius with an illegal number of passengers, two bikes on the roof, and several clowns in the trunk.
If all of this is making you scratch your head as you attempt to account for every single factor on the list, you could always use the figures provided by the Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS), which offers rough numbers based on the type of snow. Note that they ignore the rest of the factors, which can influence whether a roof collapses, but their guidelines remain useful nonetheless:
Fresh snow: 10-12 inches of new snow is equal to about one inch of water, or about 5 pounds per square foot of roof space, so you could have up to 4 ft. of new snow before the roof will become stressed.
Packed snow: 3-5 inches of old snow is equal to one inch of water, or about 5 lbs. per square foot of roof space, so anything more than 2 feet of snow could be too much for your roof to handle.
Total accumulated weight: Two feet of old snow and two feet of new snow could weigh as much as 60 lbs. per square foot of roof space, which is beyond the typical snow load capacity of most roofs.
Ice: One inch of ice equals one foot of fresh snow.
If you want to simplify all of this even more, and play it really safe, you can take my advice – as a guy who has dealt with snow and ice on rooftops for nearly 20 years:
Remove the snow at 2 feet if you have a newer, pitched roof that is in decent shape, and if the weather has not made it heavier than normal. Check for larger drifts. Since most of these contributing factors increase the weight and danger of the snow you can’t really go wrong by playing it safe. In addition, two feet is also about the most your average roof rake is going to be able to handle; wait much longer than that and you might well have to call in a professional roof snow removal service, especially if that snow happens to ice over and harden while you put off having to remove it.
Obviously, if you have an older roof, live in a manufactured home, have a business with a flat roof, or have a flat porch roof on your home, then you’ll want to be even more conservative. In those cases, I recommend using 12 inches of snow as your line in the sand for snow removal.
What if you lose track of how much snow is up there, or you don’t have a good vantage point to guesstimate from the ground? (After all, you’re busy. You’re not watching every weather report and you probably won’t go up there with a ladder and ruler.)
If that happens, go around your home opening the doors and the windows. If any of them gives you trouble, that could mean that the snow has compressed your roof, in turn putting pressure on the door and window frames. If that’s happened, you have far too much snow for your roof to bear and you need to get the snow removed STAT.
Key points:
Older roofs or roofs in bad shape may not be able to withstand as much snow as some published guidelines might suggest.
Flat roofs typically hold the least amount of weight, depending on their construction.
Excessive rainfall or a constant thaw-and-freeze cycle can quickly increase the weight of the roof snow to dangerous levels. Get more conservative about snow removal if you see these conditions.
Your best bet is to treat 2 feet of snow as the maximum snow load a healthy, modern, sloped roof can take, and to be vigilant about watching for snow drifts that might be deeper and more dangerous.
If you have an older roof, live in a manufactured home, or have a property with a flat roof, then it pays to be even more conservative: use 12 inches as your hard limit for snow removal.
If you find it difficult to open any of your doors or windows this is a sign the snow load has grown too heavy for your house to bear. Seek the help of an ice and snow removal service immediately. You may even consider spending a night or two in a motel. Roof collapses are very real, and they can often times lead to tragedy. Give them the serious attention they deserve.
What is the best way to remove snow from the roof?
Always stand on the ground. Never work from a ladder. Use a roof rake with rollers or a plastic edge to pull the snow off of your roof. Make sure you use an extendable pole so you’re able to stand far enough away from the edge of your roof that you’re not standing directly in the line of fire as the snow comes crashing down from your roof. The last thing you want to do is part your hair with a block of ice
Never, ever get up on your roof. Professionals will get up there with shovels and steamers, but you’re paying us to do that, and we’re trained & insured against accidents. You don’t need or want to risk injury, death, or disability by standing on a slick ladder or a slippery roof in the dead of winter.
If you don’t feel confident that you can get the job done without hurting yourself, get a professional. Don’t injure yourself just to save a few bucks.
Want to learn more about the weight of snow?
No problem. I’ve got some resources for you.
How Much Does Snow Weigh? (The Weather Channel). This video has some great visuals to help you picture the weight of the snow. It also talks about the kind of damage snow can do when it falls off your roof.
IBHS Urges Home and Business Owners to Reduce Risk of Winter-Related Damage Now. This article covers a number of winter risks, and includes links that will help you explore those topics in-depth. Roof collapses are #2 on the list.
What is Snow Water Equivalent? This article is from the United States Department of Agriculture. It discusses a common snowpack measurement. It also talks about how meteorologists decide how many “inches” of snow have fallen.
How Much Snow Is Too Much for Your Roof?. From Popular Mechanics. They do a great job of diagramming the roof for you, helping you to understand exactly how a roof resists a snow load. It also offers some general guidelines for when you ought to remove the snow.
Remember, a roof collapse could cause severe injury (or worse) to you or your loved ones, to say nothing of the thousands upon thousands of dollars in repair costs, increased homeowner’s insurance premiums, and other major hassles. At the end of the day, it’s important not to get too hung up on waiting until you’ve got the absolute maximum amount of snow up there. If you think you might need to remove that snow, it’s probably a good idea to do so.
How many pounds does one gallon of snow weigh?
You can’t really say how much a gallon of snow will weigh without knowing the density of the snowfall. However, a general rule of thumb used for determining precipitation for snowfall is a ratio of 7 to 1. So, if you get seven inches of snowfall in the winter, it will be equivalent to 1 inch of rainfall. Since you can’t truly determine the density based on a depth, it is probably safe to assume that the volume ratio for snow to water is also 7:1. A gallon of water weighs about 8.33 lbs, so using my logic, which is based more on rules of thumb than science, a gallon of snow will weigh 8.33/7 = 1.19 lbs. Compacted snow would obviously be much heavier though.
A gallon of snow (which is mostly air around tiny ice crystals) will weigh much less than a gallon of solid ice.
Fresh snow has a density of roughly 0.1 g/ml; packed snow can have a density around 0.3 g/ml; a solid block of ice has a density of about 0.92g/ml.
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