Wind Snow Lookup

Build the site criteria block, one parameter at a time, with a source on every line. Which parameters a design needs is knowable in advance. What they are for your site is not, so they come from you.

Workflow

Step 1. Establish the standard and the site

Ask, in one message:

Which loading standard governs, and which edition? The edition matters more than usual here, because hazard maps get redrawn between them.

Site location, as precisely as you have it, and whether the authority requires a specific point.

Risk or importance category, and what set it.

Which hazards apply to this project and this region? Wind, snow, seismic, ice, rain, flood, tsunami, or others your code carries.

Where will the values come from: your code's maps, a hazard tool your jurisdiction publishes, or a document you have. Name it, and I will record it as the source on every line it supplies.

Record the standard, the edition, and the source. All three print on the block, because a hazard value without its edition and its source is not usable a year later.

Step 2. Collect one value per parameter

Work through the hazards named in Step 1. For each parameter, say what it is for before asking, so a parameter that turns out to be unnecessary gets dropped rather than guessed.

Parameter	Feeds
Basic wind speed, at the risk category	Wind pressure calculation
Wind exposure category	Wind pressure calculation
Topographic factor inputs, if the site needs them	Wind pressure calculation
Ground snow load	Roof snow load calculation
Snow importance and thermal conditions	Roof snow load calculation
Mapped seismic accelerations	Seismic base shear
Site class, or the geotechnical basis for it	Seismic base shear
Seismic design category	Detailing and system limits
Ice thickness and concurrent wind	Ice load on exposed elements
Rainfall intensity, at the return periods your code names	Roof drainage and rain load
Flood design elevation	Siting, envelope, and finished floor level

Accept a typed value with its source, a pasted table or tool output to read it out of, or a file to read. If none arrives, the parameter goes on the gap list. Do not offer a value, do not search for one, and do not interpolate between two values the user gave for nearby points.

Step 3. Print the criteria block

SITE DESIGN CRITERIA — <project>
STANDARD: <as supplied>        EDITION: <as supplied>
SITE: <as supplied>            RISK/IMPORTANCE: <as supplied>
SOURCE: <as supplied>          RECORDED: <date>

<parameter>   <value>   <source>   <what it feeds>
...

GAPS: <count>. Listed below with what each one is needed for.
ALL VALUES SUPPLIED BY <name>. NONE WERE LOOKED UP BY THIS TOOL.

The gap count goes on the block, not underneath it. A criteria block that omits what is missing gets copied onto a drawing as if it were complete.

Step 4. Save, if asked

Ask whether to write the block to a file and where. Write it directly. There is no template and no script.

Rules

Never supply a hazard value. Not from memory, not from a search, not from a figure in this file. There are none in this file.
Never convert a mapped parameter into a design load. That is a separate calculation with inputs this skill does not collect.
Never interpolate. Between two map contours, between two nearby sites, between two editions. If the value is between things, the user reads it off the map, not this tool.
Record the edition on every line. Hazard maps are redrawn between editions, and a value carried forward silently is the failure mode here.
Print the gap count on the block itself, every time.
Never geocode, and never accept a project name as a location.

Anti-patterns

Giving a wind speed or snow load for a city because it is a familiar figure. These are exactly the numbers that feel well known and are jurisdiction and edition specific.
Searching the web for a site's design values. Search finds which standard governs; it does not read a map for a coordinate.
Turning a ground snow load into a roof snow load, or a basic wind speed into a pressure, because the user asked for the second thing.
Interpolating between contour lines or between two nearby coordinates.
Producing a criteria block with no gap count, so a partial set reads complete.
Bundling a hazard map or table into this skill later. It has none on purpose, and a bundled hazard value goes stale on the next map revision while still looking authoritative.

Resources

None. This skill is one file. Output is written directly at the path you name.

What this does. Works through the environmental parameters a structural and envelope design needs, asks for each, records where each came from, and prints a criteria block with a gap list. It tells you what a parameter feeds, so you can tell whether you still need it.

What this does not do.

It does not look up hazard values. It has no maps, no tables, and no coordinates-to-value function. Every value comes from you, out of your code's maps, your jurisdiction's hazard tool, or a letter from the authority. That is the design, not a gap.
It returns mapped parameters, never design loads. A basic wind speed is not a design pressure. A ground snow load is not a roof snow load. Converting one to the other needs exposure, topography, importance, thermal, and shape factors, and that is a design step this skill does not take.
It does not geocode an address, and it does not infer a site from a project name.
It does not know which hazards apply to your region. It asks.
It does not replace the Engineer of Record or the authority.

What you need before starting. The site location, the governing loading standard and its edition, the risk or importance category, and access to whatever your jurisdiction publishes the values in.

Workflow

Step 1. Establish the standard and the site

Ask, in one message:

Which loading standard governs, and which edition? The edition matters more than usual here, because hazard maps get redrawn between them.
Site location, as precisely as you have it, and whether the authority requires a specific point.
Risk or importance category, and what set it.
Which hazards apply to this project and this region? Wind, snow, seismic, ice, rain, flood, tsunami, or others your code carries.
Where will the values come from: your code's maps, a hazard tool your jurisdiction publishes, or a document you have. Name it, and I will record it as the source on every line it supplies.

Record the standard, the edition, and the source. All three print on the block, because a hazard value without its edition and its source is not usable a year later.

Step 2. Collect one value per parameter

Work through the hazards named in Step 1. For each parameter, say what it is for before asking, so a parameter that turns out to be unnecessary gets dropped rather than guessed.

Parameter

Feeds

Basic wind speed, at the risk category

Wind pressure calculation

Wind exposure category

Wind pressure calculation

Topographic factor inputs, if the site needs them

Wind pressure calculation

Ground snow load

Roof snow load calculation

Snow importance and thermal conditions

Roof snow load calculation

Mapped seismic accelerations

Seismic base shear

Site class, or the geotechnical basis for it

Seismic base shear

Seismic design category

Detailing and system limits

Ice thickness and concurrent wind

Ice load on exposed elements

Rainfall intensity, at the return periods your code names

Roof drainage and rain load

Flood design elevation

Siting, envelope, and finished floor level

Step 3. Print the criteria block

SITE DESIGN CRITERIA — <project> STANDARD: <as supplied> EDITION: <as supplied> SITE: <as supplied> RISK/IMPORTANCE: <as supplied> SOURCE: <as supplied> RECORDED: <date> <parameter> <value> <source> <what it feeds> ... GAPS: <count>. Listed below with what each one is needed for. ALL VALUES SUPPLIED BY <name>. NONE WERE LOOKED UP BY THIS TOOL.

The gap count goes on the block, not underneath it. A criteria block that omits what is missing gets copied onto a drawing as if it were complete.

Step 4. Save, if asked

Ask whether to write the block to a file and where. Write it directly. There is no template and no script.

Rules

Never supply a hazard value. Not from memory, not from a search, not from a figure in this file. There are none in this file.

Never convert a mapped parameter into a design load. That is a separate calculation with inputs this skill does not collect.

Never interpolate. Between two map contours, between two nearby sites, between two editions. If the value is between things, the user reads it off the map, not this tool.

Record the edition on every line. Hazard maps are redrawn between editions, and a value carried forward silently is the failure mode here.

Print the gap count on the block itself, every time.

Never geocode, and never accept a project name as a location.

Anti-patterns

Giving a wind speed or snow load for a city because it is a familiar figure. These are exactly the numbers that feel well known and are jurisdiction and edition specific.

Searching the web for a site's design values. Search finds which standard governs; it does not read a map for a coordinate.

Turning a ground snow load into a roof snow load, or a basic wind speed into a pressure, because the user asked for the second thing.

Interpolating between contour lines or between two nearby coordinates.

Producing a criteria block with no gap count, so a partial set reads complete.

Bundling a hazard map or table into this skill later. It has none on purpose, and a bundled hazard value goes stale on the next map revision while still looking authoritative.

Wind Snow Lookup.

Wind Snow Lookup

Workflow

Step 1. Establish the standard and the site

Step 2. Collect one value per parameter

Step 3. Print the criteria block

Step 4. Save, if asked

Rules

Anti-patterns

Resources

Wind Snow Lookup.

Wind Snow Lookup

Workflow

Step 1. Establish the standard and the site

Step 2. Collect one value per parameter

Step 3. Print the criteria block

Step 4. Save, if asked

Rules

Anti-patterns

Resources