Design Snow and Wind Loads at High Elevations in Mountains (Canada) 1

[CANeng11]

Does anyone know where one could get snow and wind loads to be used in design for high elevations in the Rocky Mountains in Canada? This particular project is at roughly 2100m A.S.L.

 

[jayrod12]

The NBCC has design loads and climactic information included. Are you near one of their locations?

 

[CANeng11]

Yes it is fairly close to one, but the elevation is quite a bit higher than the closest location (500m higher).

 

[atrizzy]

You can reach out to Environment Canada for pretty good site-specific data. Just send them the coordinates and they should be able to provide you with base data for that location. They may even include escarpment effects, etc. I believe I did the last time I designed a tower on a mountaintop...

 

[dik]

There are numerous 'small' weather stations all over Canada the Environment Canada gets their data from. If there is one in the area, at a similar elevation this may be helpful to scale wind and snow load factors from. I've often used the small weather station data for reports on wind storm damage, etc. In the less remote areas, it may be necessary to take an educated WAG. I did a windstorm damage report about 15 years back in Selkirk, Manitoba and was fortunate to have a weather station within 10 miles. They had excellent and useful data.

Dik

 

[strucbells]

No Canadian code experience here, but in my state in the US there is a provision in our state code to increase the ground snow load by a factor per ft of elevation gain above the tabulated ground snow load and corresponding elevation provided. The values vary from 0.007 to 0.07 psf/ft elevation gain depending on which mountain range you are in, with the snowier areas at the higher end. Might use the higher end as a sanity check on whatever more tailored/Canada specific approach you use.

 

[Craig_H]

Environment Canada provides design loads for any location (based on latitude and longitude coordinates). I have occasionally done a dummy check by visiting the location in the winter myself, consulting with others in the area who monitor snow depths, etc to verify the data provided. A letter from Environment Canada is attached to this post, with the corresponding contact information. Mountain weather & climate is very nuanced. Adjacent valleys can be wildly different from each other. This is why I have both paid for the site-specific data, and then cross-referenced the to ensure that Environment Canada's modelling has captured the local weather patterns.

Depending on your site location, there may be commercial heliskiing operations who operate in the area, or others who do snow safety / avalanche control. As someone who works part-time in these fields, I can tell you that the snow geeks are a wealth of knowledge on the local weather patterns, and can be great for verifying the information provided.