Harmonized European ground snow load map: Analysis and comparison of national provisions

The set-up of common approaches for the elaboration of climatic actions maps across borders of neighbouring countries in Europe is one of the most relevant and challenging objectives towards further harmonization of structural Eurocodes. EN1991-1-3 is the part of Eurocode 1 dealing with snow loads on structures; its Annex C provide guidance for the elaboration of harmonized national maps referring to the European ground snow load map, derived within the European Snow Load Research Project (ESLRP). In the paper, in view of the elaboration of the “second generation of the Eurocodes”, the Ground Snow Load maps used in different countries, as given in their National Annexes to EN1991-1-3, are critically discussed and compared with the European ground snow load map provided in Annex C, in order to detect inconsistencies, if any. The results still show lack of full consistency of ground snow load values across administrative borders between countries, stressing the need of further investigations to eliminate or to better justify such inconsistencies, enhancing the harmonization of the European snow map.