How much snow can your roof handle before disaster strikes?

After rounds of snow, your home may look like it’s being buried in snow, but when should you begin to worry?

Snow can weigh upwards of over 50 lbs per cubic foot (approximately 30 cubic centimetres)—depending on the type of snow, that is.

How much snow your home’s roof can handle is determined by looking back at 50 years worth of historic weather data.

Each city in Canada has a unique snow load built into their building codes, stating how much weight a building’s roof must be able to withstand.

Cities that receive more snow, on average, will have higher snow loads than cities that don’t see much snow in the winter.

But if an unexpected heavy snowfall puts the weight of snow on your roof above its snow load, don’t worry—there are other safety measures in place within your home’s structure to prevent a disaster from happening.

The Weather Network’s Victoria Fenn Alvarado has the full scoop in the video above.

With files from Anika Beaudry, a digital writer at The Weather Network.