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...confirmed what I suspected - for an OPEN TM. Any thoughts on acceptable loads on a closed TM?
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I don't have a solid answer. But I suspect that the snow load capacity is not radically different open or closed. My concern is not so much about support at the edges of the shell, but for the strength of the arch of each shell. Remember, the arch of the front shell supports the front roof structure plus the air conditioner, plus any snow load. The arch of the rear shell has to support the rear roof structure, of course, plus its snow load. And if the arch of the front roof starts to squeeze down, it adds to the load that the arch of the rear roof has to support. If either arch starts to deform, you have a major problem.
Would you ever expect to get more than a foot of dry snow in Cle Elum? Would you ever expect to get rain on top of existing snow? Will you have ready access to the site if weather looks bad?
Your photo looks a lot like the evergreen forests of interior Maine, where I grew up. We always expected to see some relatively small tree branches drop onto the roof of the house or camp, which was OK. But it was also common to see a mass of snow accumulate up in the branches, and then suddenly come loose and drop with a big WHOOMP onto the roof below. The impact of, say, 20-40 pounds of dry snow, dropping from a height of maybe 20 feet, could be substantial. If the TM roof is already deep in snow, it might not be good.
Again I don't know, but I have often wondered if you could install a stiff vertical support inside the TM, beneath the forward edge of the rear shell - or perhaps under both shells. You shouldn't bring the load directly onto the center of the floor, so you would want to spread it out toward the edges of the floor somehow. Remember, I have not done this, so I am not suggesting it. Just noodling around ...
Bill