A friend of mine is relocating to Northern California by the end of the month. He plans to rent a U-Haul and drive there. I told him it might be a great idea in July, but there could be a lot of snow and ice this time of year. He’s planning on taking Route 80. What are his chances of bad weather, especially in the mountains?
Winter mountain driving should always be seen as hazardous. It’s a combination of active weather that could be encountered at the time of travel, along with residual weather conditions. The latter part means the weather on a particular day at a particular location could be sunny, clear and dry, but the road conditions could have snow, ice and even black ice.
Lastly is one’s honest experience in winter mountain driving. It’s one thing to to have (assumed) extensive winter driving experience in Ohio. It’s quite another dealing with winter driving and weather in the mountains of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada and California. (Even traveling in a blizzard on I80 in Nebraska is shitstorm scary.)
I would steer your friend to the various state transportation department web sites as a place to start, followed by principal weather reporting along the intended route.
He should also contact the truck rental agency and ask them for tips, particularly if he’s going to be driving a big truck and towing his car.
I-10 to the outskirts of LA (or leave early and catch the beach while in the area).
I-5 to where ever or Sacramento, whichever comes first. If it’s Sacto, pick up i-80 (keep going past the green I-80 signs - that’s the “main” route which goes through downtown - the red white blue indicate the “bypass” which runs around the northern edge - much quicker.
When they say “chains required” it really means required - the CHP will not allow you past. Don’t count on clear roads.
For those not familiar with mountains - there are florescent orange sticks along sections of roads. Those sticks are 10-15’ high.
They are what the snowplows see after a fresh storm. Yes. 10-15 FEET.
The winds are also treacherous, as is tule fog - that fog is specifically mentioned in flight training manuals. I was caught in it once - the headlights were 2 dim yellow spots - visibility was < 4’.
I navigated by opening my door and watching the centerline.
No place to be driving a rig larger and with greater wind resistance than you know.
Chances of snow/ice are high. Your friend will be crossing two mountain ranges, the Rockies and the Sierra Nevada. Don’t forget the Wasatch Mountains near Salt Lake City, too. The Rockies crossing on I-80 is longer and more gradual, therefore the chances of snow/ice are higher for a longer distance. For the Sierras, it’s an abrupt up-and-down.
I recommend doing a more southern route: I-70, then pick up I-44 in St. Louis and then I-40 in Oklahoma City. This is the old, historic Route 66. Compare the mileage, and you’ll see that it doesn’t add very many miles, relatively speaking, to the I-80 route.
If a bad storm comes, then your friend can divert to I-10. Longer, true, but the chances of getting stopped due to heavy snow are small. I have driven all of these routes in summer and winter, by car and motorcycle.
If your friend has never seen the Grand Canyon, it’s well worth the short-ish detour to the South Rim from I-40.
I’ve been slammed by bad blizzards along I-80 in CA, WY and CO as late as April.
If your friend takes I-80 his chances of encountering bad weather are pretty good. As others have pointed out, there are lots of mountains on that route.
Even on I-40 there are stretches that go through mountains and sometimes get closed due to snow. East of Albuquerque the elevation is over 7000 ft. from the Sandia Mountains to Clines Corners (over 50 miles). In western New Mexico, from Grants to Gallup it is over 7000 feet again. Then in northern Arizona it is over 7000 ft. around Flagstaff.
Any of those areas can and do get closed due to snow, but it isn’t really common so it’s a better route than I-80. The safest route (but considerably longer) is going all the way south to I-10 and then up I-5 through California.
Could be a walk in the park. Could be an icy hell. I drive over the continental divide every day in central Colorado. If he is not a truck driver, and since he does not know mountain driving, I would advise that he should be prepared to sit things out for a day or two in Wyoming if a storm is closing in.
And don’t just be worried about the mountains. I drove from Madison to Denver in September in an SUV with 4 snow tires on it and ‘floated’ across some icy bridges in Nebraska. It’s very true that bridges ice up first.
Perhaps you should tell him, if he’s using I-80 the entire way, that he’ll be running through Donner Pass. Not only the area where the infamous Donner party became stuck by the weather, but an area that gets such bad weather that there was a 10 part documentary about keeping the pass drive-able in the winter
I have driven twice to California the ‘northern route’ - over Donner Pass, both times [once in October in 1989 and last spring in Feb] and both times they were perfectly safe, no snow at all.
I would caveat the Great Salt Flats however, the wind ripping across it was enough to make us pull over and shelter in one of the walled rest areas this past Feb, and when we were at whatever the little town just off the flats in the hills, we were rocking hard enough while parked to make me not want to get out to walk in, in a smart car we might have flipped and in a truck the broad side would have made driving difficult.
I will echo:
enipla’s comments about Nebraska. One March there was a late blizzard and a lot of spots on I-80 were icy.
aruvqan’s comments about Donner Pass. It is often clear, and CalTrans works hard to keep it that way since it’s a major road. But, when it’s bad it can be really bad. As always, check the weather. And bring supplies so you don’t have to eat the pet canaries for dinner if you’re stuck for several days.
Do Not drive through Kansas. The cops there are ridiculous at targeting cars with out of state plates. I’ve been thinking of starting a thread about this to see what people think, but several years ago I was driving thru Kansas (with CA plates), and was pulled over for driving in the left lane while not actually passing anyone. This was in the wee hours of the morning, and I was trying to avoid a long string of trucks which were kicking up so much water on the road that I couldn’t see.
The cops asked if they could search my car, and when I said no, they insisted in bringing a drug-sniffing dog out. They had me on the side of the road for 2 hours, and ended up giving me a warning.
This, after I had been followed for about half an hour by a cop earlier in the morning.
I purposely drove right at the speed limit from the time I entered the state, too.
BTW, I was going the reverse direction as the OP, but in February, too. I got lucky and made it over the passes fine. But I was lucky. A week earlier or later, and it would have been a mess.
I wonder why that happened. Maybe they were on a targeted mission looking for drug runners. Not saying you were or are particularly suspicious, John Mace.
In late 2009 Mrs. Tango and I drove north from Lawton OK to Abilene KS (to Ike’s house), stayed in Salina KS, then drove SW through Dodge City and Liberal KS to SE Colorado, Springfield CO. We were on a long road trip vacationing through the southwest USA, California plates and all.
No trouble at all. But that was back around Thanksgiving of 2009. The Kansas donut shops were probably heated, so Smokey was likely keeping warm in there.
Another warning for Donner. I cross it often, and frequently during the winter, and it is usually clear. But when it isn’t, chain controls (assuming the road is open at all) can easily add 4 hours to the trip. Everybody without 4-wheel drive has to pull over and chain up (which takes awhile if you are not used to it) or wait to pay someone to install them for you. Then you wait in a long, slow line to get through the chain control checkpoint, then, when you are finally really moving, the speed limit is 30mph (and even less if the conditions warrant or if you realize you are surrounded by people who don’t know how to drive in the snow) and then eventually have to stop and take the chains off.
A friend of mine missed a job interview in the first week of June due to snow on this pass. I would advise a more southerly route, even if it adds some hours.
does this person have any plump acquaintances that could be taken along for company?
They said there had been a rash of drug smuggling. But they were playing cat and mouse with me all morning, and the drug-sniffing dog was over the top. I’m not sure they had the constitutional right to do that. Funny thing is, the dog signaled something was in the the trunk. This was a rental car, and I had never even opened the trunk-- all my stuff was in the back seat.
The cops kept trying to trick me with personal questions. They even ventured that it was “OK, if I had some personal-use marijuana in the car”. :rolleyes:
I guess I can now say that I have a small taste of what it must be like to DWB in some areas.
I’ve driven cross country enough times. My recommendation is head south to I-10 to CA, and I-5 up CA to wherever. The moment you enter CA, it’s called “the 5.” Have some fun driving through CA.
What **usedtobe **said.
I also did the U-Haul thing. It’s ridiculously expensive and a U-Haul truck gets about a mile per gallon.
Consider telling your friend to get an on-line UPS account, a printer, boxes etc., and have UPS do the move, a box at a time. Way cheaper than U-Haul, and there’s nothing like having someone just come to your door and carry your stuff away for you, but he’ll have to sell the piano and other large stuff.
So, panache45, how did your friend’s trip go?