Great contribution. We don't have huge snow falls .. nothing much in the North Island a bit more in the south .. i have noticed however that a lot on Nothern Hemisphere countries (Switzerland? for example) have very angular rooves to avoid the snow weight problem, how does your country cope ?
Traditionally, houses in Norway wre buildt with very acute-angled roofs, due to the weight of snow. When the snow is dry, normally that causes no danger, but when wet weather, the snow acts like a sponge.....
To day we have very strct construction regulations and standards, that varies from district to districts.The roof supporting rafter a well defined both in cm between each and the strenght.