Denver, CO Frost Depth & Snow Load: Ground Snow Load (2026)

This is one of the clearest examples anywhere of why a snow load page has to name the code edition it came from. Denver's design ground snow load was 35 pounds per square foot under its previous code. The 2025 Denver Building Code raises it to 43 psf as a service level load, and the city's own summary of significant changes says so directly, noting that the earlier single value of 35 psf has given way to variable ground snow loads across Denver. Alongside the increase, a new footnote c permits a site-specific alternative: location-specific ground snow load values using risk category II, drawn from a geodatabase of geocoded design values accessible through the ASCE 7 hazard tool.

So 43 psf is a citywide default that a designer may replace with a looked-up value for the actual site, and that lookup can come out lower. Anyone working from a pre-2025 figure of 35 psf is now roughly eight pounds per square foot short.