Topic: Snow Engineering: Overcoming Uncertainty and Looking to the Future

Prof. Jan Dale leads a diverse global team of professionals who oversee the microclimate and snow service areas at RWDI. His technical knowledge and extensive project experience make him an asset not only to our clients, but to our in-house research and development work. Although Jan’s current technical focus is on snow services, including drifting and falling snow, many of our clients’ projects have also been enhanced by Jan’s proficiency in wind tunnel development, cladding wind loading and structural wind loading. An established leader in the microclimate field, Jan trains and coaches every member of his team to push the boundaries of our services to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients.

Abstract: In many regions of the world, snow is an important consideration in many aspects of design.  The effects of snow accumulations can result in the most significant risks to public safety. However, in contrast to many other common design parameters, design for snow effects has a relatively high degree of uncertainty. Unfortunately, for many aspects of design for the effects of snow there are no discrete solutions or formulae to calculate the true probability or risk. This is a direct result of the number of variables that are involved in generating the design scenario. Further, the degree of uncertainty increases in proportion to the mean recurrence interval, or probability of exceeding the design condition. While this is the case, research has focused on developing methods to provide reasonable approximations for the purpose of design. The discussion will focus on the design approaches and practices that have been developed to address this uncertainty for a range of design areas including snow drift accumulations on and around buildings and roadways, snow loading on buildings and other structures as well as the potential risks from snow and ice that may fall from buildings. 

In addition to the current uncertainties that exist around the effects of snow, the changing climate is expected to further complicate matters. Recent research has focused on incorporating the effects of climate change into design standards for snow. The observations to date have shown that the effects of the changing climate are not consistent across various regions.  In some regions where the climate is relatively mild, snow is expected to have a reduced effect on many design aspects. However, in other regions, the effects of snow may be exaggerated as the climate changes. The discussion will introduce what has been done to date to refine methods for design for snow effects and discuss where we may head in the future to continue managing the inherent uncertainties that snow introduces.