Global warming means valley snowfall will be history

[Glacier]

Or so they told us. hmmmmm....

WHEREAS the Council of the City of Revelstoke, Province of British Columbia, deem it
necessary to amend the City of Revelstoke Building Bylaw No. 1707 to update the snow load
requirements, to delete Schedule A - Scale of Fees and to remove all references to Schedule A.

NOW THEREFORE the Council of the City of Revelstoke, Province of British Columbia, in
open meeting assembled, enacts as follows:

1. THAT the following Section 6.7 a) and b):
a) Resort Lands:

Elevation 500m – 6.3 kPa

600m – 7.1 kPa
700m – 7.9 kPa
800m – 8.7 kPa
900m – 9.5 kPa

b) Remainder of City 5.8 kPa

Be deleted and replaced with:
a) Resort Lands:

Elevation 500m – 7.8 kPa

600m – 8.8 kPa
700m – 9.8 kPa
800m – 10.8 kPa
900m – 11.8 kPa

b) Remainder of City 7.2 kPa

Note: It is estimated the new requirements will add about one per cent to the cost of building a new structure.

[Queen K]

Now you know there's a perfectly reasonable explanation in there somewhere.

[keith1612]

lol poor prior building codes perhaps.

[signgrrrl]

https://revelstoke.civicweb.net/FileSto ... 0Loads.pdf

I think it's a little more about the City of Revelstoke cashing in.

[Glacier]

How would they be cashing in? I suppose they get money from building permits, but I think updated codes only apply to new construction.

Environment Canada has increased Revelstoke Ground Snow Load from 5.8 kPa to 7.2 kPa. This change may not be reflected in the new Building Code due to the timing of printing. Therefore, Bylaw No. 1707 needs an amendment to reflect the changes.

Over the past few years there has been a rash of roof collapses due to heavy snow. Any new construction has to be built such that the roofs are able to withstand all the accumulated snow.

The City of Revelstoke is planning to up its snow load requirements on new buildings. This follows several building collapses last snow season and subsequent requests from engineering firms.

In a report presented to council on Feb. 14, city inspector Tim Luini explains several reasons why changes are needed. More open-concept homes are being built, and they’re weaker than traditional frames. He also said denser neighbourhood designs means more homes will be designed with anchors to keep snow on roofs due to space issues. Also, he said heavy snow years are actually more common than specified in the existing rules.

Luini said the professional engineering costs could add one-per-cent in costs to a new home, in addition to extra building materials costs.

Coun. Chris Johnston expressed concern that the change could lead to added costs when city inspectors opt for a professional engineering sign-off to reduce their exposure. Luini said inspectors do their best to avoid this when possible at present.

Luini’s presentation was received for information. The actual bylaw is expected at a later date.

[Glacier]

Reading some of the comments on this story, it seems that older buildings in Revelstoke were built with very steep roofs, but a lot of the newer houses have low pitched roofs. I guess a lot of people from non-snowbelt areas such as Vancouver and Calgary moved in and never gave thought to how much weight Revelstoke snow can add to a building. Or perhaps people believed the lie that Global Warming would mean the trend towards less snow that we've been experiencing since the 70s would continue indefinitely into the future.

Either way, we know that people aren't as smart as they used to be when it comes to nature, so now they need building codes telling them that Revelstoke gets a lot of snow.


From cbc.ca

The City of Revelstoke is changing its building codes after several roofs collapsed under the heavy snowfalls of recent winters.

The wet heavy snow that has fallen on the B.C. mountain town in the last few years has stressed trusses and support beams, routinely bringing down the roofs on carports, trailers and even the local sawmill.

Homeowner Michael Moore's carport collapsed in 2011.

"In my case there was a beam that failed," said Moore. "It does sort of shed light over time building codes have not been up to snuff."

Building codes in Revelstoke, like many cities, were developed on an ad hoc basis. Now city hall says those building codes aren't enough for modern buildings and changes in weather patterns.

"Some of the newer buildings we are getting have fairly complex roof lines," said Mayor David Raven.

"We just wanted to be very careful with the anticipated heavier snow loading with global warming, to ensure that we don't have a lot of damage within those buildings," said Mayor David Raven.

Residents will get a look at the sturdier roof requirements Wednesday night, which council is expected to adopt them.

Raven says the changes may add to the cost of building, but it won't be much — especially compared to the cost of a collapsed roof.

LOL, now they tell us that global warming means more snow load. This is funny because they have been saying the opposite for 20 years now. Doublethink is alive and well.

[5VP]

This is NOT alarmist doublethink. It's a global warming reality check.

The key statement here is...

"The wet heavy snow that has fallen on the B.C. mountain town in the last few years has stressed trusses and support beams, routinely bringing down the roofs on carports, trailers and even the local sawmill."

I'm currently going through a development process for a mountain resort southwest of Revelstoke and snowload is a primary consideration for the design of the new buildings. The new global warming reality is that areas with historically dry light snow conditions now are receiving more of the "wet heavy snow" that used to be restricted to coastal areas.

We're going with a heated skillion roof design primarily for safety of guests and for ease of snow removal to mitigate this wet heavy snow this sliding off roofs onto guests and/or vehicles.

My area received over 30' accumulative snowfall last 2011/12 season @ the 5000' level with an 8' base in March. Past records from the 60's to the early 90's showed base levels up to 24' on the ground in this Columbia Kootenay region and accumulations exceeding 60'.

[kompili]

Nothing to worry about. Virginia always gets Snowmageddon in October.

This is why we need to start calling it Climate Chaos. Or Global Weirding.

[Glacier]

This is NOT alarmist doublethink. It's a global warming reality check.

The key statement here is...

"The wet heavy snow that has fallen on the B.C. mountain town in the last few years has stressed trusses and support beams, routinely bringing down the roofs on carports, trailers and even the local sawmill."

I disagree. Revelstoke has long been known for it's wet, heavy snow. The reason that buildings have collapsed is because of longer than usual winters(in addition to city slickers moving in and building roofs without steep peaks). Because the springs have been so cold and for so long, the snow continued to accumulate in the valley bottom.

[simnut]

And, I'm gonna call that photo of the car,snow and kids a setup picture. I'm thinking the guy cleaned his driveway and shovelled it onto the top of the car. No where else in the photo....(roof, ground and trees) is there that much snow.....