Snow zones map - France

On the map of the national annex, the French territory is divided by canton into five regions of snow identified from A to E. Three of these regions (A to C) are subdivided into two to account for accidental snow precipitation.

Zone	A1	A2	B1	B2	C1	C2	D	E
Characteristic value of snow on the ground without elevation sk,0	0.45kN/m2	0.45kN/m2	0.55kN/m2	0.55kN/m2	0.65kN/m2	0.65kN/m2	0.90kN/m2	1.40kN/m2
Design value of exceptional snow load on the ground sk,0	-	1.00kN/m2	1.00kN/m2	1.35kN/m2	-	1.35kN/m2	1.80kN/m2	-

The French overseas departments, overseas territories and overseas collectivities are not subject to snowfall except Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
Characteristic value of snow on the ground without elevation at Saint Pierre and Miquelon: s_k,0 = 2.60kN/m².

Two distinct variation laws must be applied depending on whether the construction is in snow zone E or not.
Snow loads are calculated as follows:

• Up to 200m :
• From 200m to 500m :
  • All zones except zone E :
  • Zone E only :
• From 500m to 1000m :
  • All zones except zone E :
  • Zone E only :
• From 1000m to 2000m :
  • All zones except zone E :
  • Zone E only :
  where A is the elevation of the site.

P_n is the annual probability of exceedence :
dwl is the design working life, in years. Look at the design working life of buildings in France.

V is the coefficient of variation of annual maximum snow load with V=0.2 for a recurrence interval less than 50 years and V=0.6 for a recurrence interval greater than 50 years.

It should not be applied for annual probabilities of exceedence greater than 0,2 (i.e. return period less than approximately 5 years).

See the features of Eurocodes Zoning for snow analysis in France
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