Arkansas Ground Snow Load: The Code and the Local Figures

Arkansas adopts the national building code without a ground snow load amendment of its own, so the governing figure for a given address is the one the code's own table carries, and the body that applies it is the city or county building official, under the Arkansas State Fire Marshal. two figures published by Arkansas bodies themselves are set out below. 17 states are in the same position, which makes it the second commonest arrangement in the country. two Arkansas figures, running from 15 psf at City of Bella Vista to 20 psi at City of Prairie Grove, every one of them quoted from the document it was printed in. Nationally 235 figures were read across 33 states.

The city or county building official, under the Arkansas State Fire Marshal: the state adopts the code statewide but prints no snow figure, so the number comes from the local building department. In its own words: “The State Fire Marshal's Office encourages Arkansas cities and counties to join with the Arkansas State Fire Marshal's Office in our effort to enforce the AFPC by adopting the Fire Code as a local ordinance.”

Arkansas splits into zones or bands rather than counties, so the boundary that matters is drawn on the document itself. The published Arkansas figures run from 15 psf to 20 psi.

Arkansas State Fire Marshal adopts Arkansas Fire Prevention Code (2021 edition, Volumes I, II and III). Arkansas adopted it as written. The adopting rule reads: “The International Fire Code, 2021 edition, the International Building Code, 2021 edition, and the International Residential Code, 2021 edition, as published by the International Code Council and the rules, as amended and adopted by the Arkansas State Fire Marshal, shall constitute the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code, 2021 edition.”

A ground snow load is a weight per unit area and not a depth, and the two are joined only by the density of the snow on the day, which is why the published documents give the load and leave the depth out. Wet spring snow and dry January snow of the same depth are different weights on the same roof. The city or county building official, under the Arkansas State Fire Marshal works in loads for that reason, and so does every figure set out below.

The code's figure is applied to a given address by the city or county building official, under the Arkansas State Fire Marshal. The document behind it is Foreword and Fire Code Rules, Arkansas Fire Prevention Code 2021 edition, published by Arkansas State Fire Marshal, read on September 23, 2026. It establishes the point this way: “The Arkansas Building Code is adopted by the State Fire Marshal's office. It is a part of the Fire Prevention Code. The Code applies Statewide, even in rural and unincorporated areas.”

14 of 50: Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin. The other 36 split into 17 that adopt the national code without a snow amendment and 19 that leave every figure to a county or city building department. That is the single most useful fact about this subject and no one state's own website carries it.