Wenatchee, Washington to Bangor, Maine
Are your ready for an extraordinarily long road trip? We're covering 3153 miles over 6 days! That's an average of 516 miles a day at a pace of 64.5 mph. Let's not delay and get this road Trip underway!
DAY ONE
There is a system hung up in the Pacific Northwest which will be hung up, unfortunately, right along our route. Driving through low elevation, such as in the valleys of Washington and northern Idaho, we have a chance at being dry, if rather cloudy. When we hit the Montana Rockies, expect sparks and snowflakes to fly. It should be snowing it's hardest as we pass between Missoula and Butte, with some flurries hanging with us until we arrive in Livingstone, Montana, our destination for Wednesday night.
DAY TWO
We will be headed through some snowy High Plains as we depart Livingstone. The snow will accumulate pretty extensively across the state of Montana, unfortunately for our drive, but by the time we reach eastern Montana, they should be ahead of it with their Montana DOT plows. We will duck into Wyoming and South Dakota just in time, as the heavier precipitation will be in North Dakota Thursday evening. It will be unseasonably warm when we stop for the night in the interior of South Dakota in Interior, South Dakota.
DAY THREE
Temperatures will be chilly in the morning in Interior, and they will be for the duration of our drive. Expect a few flurries after we hit Sioux Falls do to moisture wrapping around the area of low pressure, which at this point will be well ahead of where we are in our drive. The lingering flurries will be our companion, as will some stratus clouds, all the way to St. Charles, Minnesota, in the southeast corner of the state.
DAY FOUR
The system that we have been riding east will continue it's rapid northeastward pace, and won't be an issue any longer as we continue our trek. We may contend with a brief spit of snow in northern Indiana thanks to Lake Michigan, but things are looking up for us and our drive. We will end the day in Columbia, Ohio, which is just over the border from Indiana.
DAY FIVE
Now that the initial system has lifted north and out of our route, it has opened the door for a deep trough to dig into the middle of the country. A warm front is expected to develop the Ohio Valley and lift north right at us, Expect some snow to start falling as we leave at our designated 10AM from Columbia. It should be with us (though not terribly heavy) as far east as Sandusky, but by Cleveland, we will outpace the precipitation. Count our blessings, because as we arrive in the eastern Syracuse metro area at the end of the day Sunday, we will be snow free.
DAY SIX
The system will be one of those bundles of energy that draws moisture in towards it's center, rather than advecting different air masses with spiraling bands of moisture. For anyone driving through New England next Monday, this is good news, as it appears the drive will be dry, though cool. If we over sleep, however, a blustery, wintry mix will move slowly into southern New York from Syracuse to Albany by the end of the day. Maybe set the alarm early. After all, the day will end in Bangor, Maine! Bangor, Maine everybody!
