Falling Snow and Ice

Analyze risks and prevent dangerous accumulation of snow and ice

Snow and ice can accumulate on the roofs and façades of buildings, which can cause structural damage as well as create hazardous conditions for people below. Slight adjustments to the building design can reduce risks and improve day-to-day operations.

Our service

While no structural design can entirely prevent the possibility of falling snow and ice, we can help you understand and mitigate any potential risks in your designs. A pioneer in engineering resilience to snow and ice, RWDI has decades of experience – spanning thousands of projects — helping designers make adaptations that significantly reduce the frequency and severity of unwanted events. 

We begin by consulting extensively with your team to understand the unique building details, and your project objectives. Our analysis can focus either on the whole structure or on the relative risks of particular design features. Utilizing our extensive climate and environmental engineering experience, we can quantify specific snow- and ice-related risks over given return periods, using our wind tunnel to understand where wind-driven accumulation can be expected to occur. 

After identifying areas of concern, we provide you with insight into how often a problem might arise and how severe the consequences might be. We then work collaboratively to explore possible architectural changes, evaluating both the efficacy and cost. You can then make informed choices with confidence, typically arriving at a solution optimized for your unique project and local climate.