Norwich, Connecticut to Fort Collins, Colorado

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We’re not staying in Connecticut long, as we have a forecast back to the west. This trip to Colorado will be shorter than our most recent trip, covering 1934 miles, over the course of 3/12 days. That works out to an average speed of 66.7mph, and a daily mileage of 533.5 miles.

DAY ONE (Saturday)

Norwich, Connecticut

There is this band of orphaned moisture riding the back of a broad ridge of high pressure in the Atlantic, and it is leading to chances for showers up and down the coast to about the Appalachians. On the other side of Appalachia, a cold front is meekly trying to move through, further drawing moist air further to the north. This will mean a mostly cloudy day, driving through New York, with some coastal showers in Connecticut at the outset, and then, as that front approaches Appalachia, we could see a few showers for the concluding bit of our driver, between Buffalo and Erie, where we stop for the night.

DAY TWO (Sunday)
The cold front will be beyond us by the time we depart Erie on Sunday morning, giving us a fairly unperturbed drive through Ohio and Indiana. The next little vorticity maximum will be rotating through the western Great Lakes by the end of our day on Sunday, which may lead to a few showers and an isolated embedded thunderstorm over northern Illinois. I would call it west of Joliet, which would get us through Chicago, but showers and storms would be possible all the way to Langley, Illinois, which is about 30 miles west of La Salle, and our destination for Sunday night.

DAY THREE (Monday)
This time of year, especially after a bit of rain overnight, I wouldn’t be surprised by “corn sweat” in the morning. That would be fog that arises thanks to the latent moisture provided by crops, mostly corn, that are approaching their harvest time. High pressure will be in place, and we should see the sun through western Iowa and into Nebraska. It will be getting warm as we arrive in Kearney for the night, as low pressure in the high Plains is developing a warm front. This may also serve as a guide for some overnight convection, but that should hold off until after we have arrived .

DAY FOUR (Tuesday)
Surface high pressure will be all the rage again as we get going on Tuesday morning. The unbroken horizon of Nebraska will lay ahead of us, and it will be a race to see the mountains. We’ll arrive in Fort Collins without much concern, though by afternoon showers and storms will be popping up in along the dry line of eastern Colorado.

Fort Collins, Colorado

Fresno, California to Norwich, Connecticut

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This summer has been hot, but the temperatures aren’t as rough as they have been lately, and the storm activity in particular is quiet. It’s a perfect time to take a week and cross the country! We’re going to be driving for 6 days, with the 6 day mercifully shorter than the first 5, at a pace of 67.7mph. This will give us daily goals of 542 miles a day as we cross 3046 miles of America.

DAY ONE (Wednesday)

Fresno, California

The story in California and through the Southwest is that it is hot. We will go south to avoid some mountains and drive right through the desert, near Death Valley and past Las Vegas. We won’t find much relief from the heat until we start climbing in Utah, and we won’t do that until near the end of the day. We will stop in southern Utah, in the town of Summit, which lies not far from where we will turn onto I-70.

DAY TWO (Thursday)
Moisture is being funneled eastward, which keeping the monsoon stunted. Storms are appearing in Arizona, but I’m not particularly concerned about the mountain passes of the central Rockies. We will make it to the fringes of the mountain community of Golden, west of Denver.

DAY THREE (Friday)
It seems like all long road trips end up spending a night in Nebraska. We’re looking into this. Our week will end near Omaha, really on the southwestern outskirts. If there was going to be any rain, this would have been the day, just for the excitement. We’ll still be rain free as we check in to the hotel in Omaha.

DAY FOUR (Saturday)
More of the same as we start, with dry skies until Des Moines, for sure. A few scattered showers will emerge as a possibility east of Des Moines, but not one that will ruin our day. Unless they come in Chicago, at which point all bets are off. That would ruin the day. Expect traffic to remain dicey regardless of the weather. Let’s get out of Chicago before the night ends, finishing in LaPorte, Indiana.

DAY FIVE (Sunday)
The moisture threat will linger through the weekend, produced by a dissipated area of low pressure and penned by high pressure in the Atlantic. There won’t be much convective activity, and as we reach the hills of Appalachia, the rain will be misty, and more likely the higher we are. The day will end south of Williamsport, in Eastville.

DAY SIX (Monday)
In a bit of good news, all that moisture is going to be hemmed to the west of the Appalachians. There may be a bit of low level moisture – fog or light mist – as we set out, but the drive into New England looks to be clear and dry. And significantly cooler than Fresno.

Norwich, Connecticut

St. Joseph, Missouri to St. George, Utah

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This saintly journey is going to take us two days and cover 1188 miles. This trip will be about as mountainous as it can get, but will also be on fast freeways when we aren’t handling terrain. That said, expect a speed of 66.7mph, and to stop for the first night at approximately the 533 mile point.

DAY ONE (Sunday)

St. Joseph, Missouri

Our first day will contain none of that mountainous terrain I talked about in the introduction. We will run the length of Kansas and emerge through the prairies of eastern Colorado. We’ll land in Bennett, Colorado after a hot day of driving. Low pressure developing in the central Rockies means a warm front extended to the Upper Midwest and a reinforced heat dome through the Sunflower State. Steamy.

DAY TWO (Monday)
Low pressure will continue to spin in the central Rockies, which is bad news for our hopes for a clear drive. Showers and storms will be possible on the western and southern exposures of the higher terrain until we hit about Eagle, Colorado. The rest of Colorado will be fine, with warm dry conditions. Some monsoonal showers and storms are going to be in the picture for the last leg, from about Richland on south, but it won’t be a major or long lived threat. St. George can get pretty hot too, but it’s a dry heat.

Saint George, Utah

Ithaca, New York to Saint Joseph, Missouri

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This road trip seems like it might be popular. Ithaca is downwind of the fires burning along the US-Canadian border, near Lake Superior. This trip will run through the middle of the country and lasting two days. Total mileage will cover 1143 miles, at a pace of about 67.7mph. Our shorter day will be the first, and will conclude after 541.6 miles. We will start on Tuesday, because, well, it is early Monday morning back in the Continental US.

DAY ONE (Tuesday)

Ithaca, New York

By the time we get moving, a fairly decent area of low pressure will move into the Great Lakes. Eventually, this will help firefighters out, but in the immediate term, rain tends to bring particulates lower to the surface. IT will be especially smokey until it gets rainy. The rain should really set in between Erie and Cleveland, with the most intense thunderstorms somewhere near Columbus. It should conclude fairly quickly after that, but don’t be surprised if there is still rain in Englewood, northeast of Dayton.

DAY TWO (Wednesday)
Our route will be clear of that system, though there may be a bit more smoke in western Ohio into Indiana, before flow becomes southerly. This should be a mostly pleasant afternoon of driving, however the next wave will have an active warm front, which will be lifting into northwest Missouri as we arrive. The last hour or so of our trip is liable to be wet.

St. Joseph, Missouri

Jacksonville, North Carolina to Ithaca, New York

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We are taking a long day’s drive through the East Coast, covering 665 miles over 5 states and a district. Despite being solidly along the coast, the route will be fairly forgiving, cutting through Raleigh, Richmond, DC and then… Harrisburg? There is enough urban driving, and then the drive into the Poconos to account for, so our speed will only be about 62.5mph on average. Still, 5 states in a day? Not bad.

Jacksonville, North Carolina

It’s just that time of year. A low in the Gulf Stream is tailing a boundary into the Carolinas. It’s enough that there is widespread shower activity in the Appalachians tonight, and it’s liable to be a foggy morning as far north as DC. There will likely be showers embedded within the low clouds throughout Virginia as we make our way northward as well. I’ve been in Virginia only a couple of times, and it has rained every time. Is that a thing? Crossing the Potomac, and then heading north into Pennsylvania will be a bit nicer of a time. We will arrive in the Finger Lakes with mostly cloudy skies and a muggy atmosphere. The next boundary will be sliding out of Canada, making sure we don’t have TOO much fun in Ithaca.

Ithaca, New York

Brownsville, Texas to Logan, Utah

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This is a cool trip, with a route through the mountains. lasting three days and covering 1,671 miles. That breaks down to about 66.8mph, and two days of 534.7 miles, with a longer day at the end. It’s going to be pretty scenic, I think!

DAY ONE (Monday)

Brownsville, Texas

As you may have heard, there is severe weather in the Plains tonight. It will be more widespread and significant tomorrow as the low shifts to the Mississippi Valley. A cold front is expected to dangle off the southwestern flank of the feature, with strong thunderstorms possible. There is significant disagreement in the models as to whether storms will fire along this front as far west as our route, but if they do intercept, it will be around Eden, Texas. We won’t escape the state by the end of the day, rounding out the day in Forsan, near Big Springs.

DAY TWO (Tuesday)
The drive on Tuesday will be through the back roads of west Texas and New Mexico, including a pretty good cross section of Albuquerque. The big area of low pressure will be transitioning well away from the middle of the country by midweek, so the drive will ultimately be partly cloudy, with a bunch of scenery to enjoy. We’ll reach Counselor, New Mexico, halfway to Farmington.

DAY THREE (Wednesday)
Soak this day in. We’re going to trek through some of the most beautiful country the nation has to offer. We’ll run past several national parks, Moab and other tracts that aren’t federally protected, but still attractive. The weather will cooperate, with overcast coming back into the picture between Salt Lake and Logan. It will be one of the more exemplary drives we’ve taken, and the weather will generally be pretty great, too.

Logan, Utah

Springfield, Missouri to Billings, Montana

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Our journey this week takes us on a route that will certainly be easy on the traffic. We’ll head northwest over the course of two days, covering 1192 miles That second day will be our longer of the two, with a pace of 67.5mph. Our second day will be longer – and it will feel like it – with day one concluding after 540 miles.

DAY ONE (Tuesday)

Springfield, Missouri

Day one will be the day with actual human population along our route. We’ll pass through Kansas City, Omaha and Sioux Falls without much of an interruption. Temperatures will be nice and toasty along the way, and I will give you permission to leave windows cracked as we proceed. The day will end as we reach Montrose, South Dakota, not far to the west of Sioux Falls.

DAY TWO (Wednesday)
A pretty deep area of low pressure is going to develop midweek in the northern Rockies. It’s going to churn even more warm air and a bit of humidity. This is likely to play out with some thunderstorms developing late in the day. I would say there will be some storms in the Black Hills of South Dakota as we navigate through, with more isolated storms in southeastern Montana. Don’t be surprised if there is rain in Billings tomorrow evening, but don’t necessarily expect it, either. So what is there to do in Billings, anyway?

Owensboro, Kentucky to Springfield, Missouri

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We’re heading for a long drive on Friday. It will take 6 1/2 hours to cover 421 miles, which settles in at about 64.7mph, slowed mostly by St. Louis. Let’s cross two of America’s grandest rivers (and get pretty darn close to a third) in one day.

Owensboro, Kentucky

Our first bridge to cross will be over the Ohio and into Indiana, before we turn westward. The Mississippi Valley will be quiet for once, with warm, increasingly humid air for our route. So hot and humid, in fact, that there is a chance of some isolated pop up shower and storm activity early in the day. Low pressure in the Plains is going to drive that summerlike air north, and as we get west of St. Louis and the Mississippi, we will start to see more ominous clouds to the northwest, with the shower threat diminishing directly over our route. A very strong and active cold front will be congealing in northwest Missouri, and will arrive in Springfield that evening. After us, though, so we can sit and anticipate it’s arrival.

Springfield, Missouri

Baltimore, Maryland to Parkersburg, West Virginia

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It’s only going to take 5 hours to travel from the Inner Harbor to the Ohio Valley, but boy, things are going to be world’s different, culturally and scenically. What about climatologically? That is why I am here! This drive is going to cover about 319 miles, as I said for roughly 5 miles. That means a pace of about 64.9mph, slowed by city driving and hilly terrain.

Baltimore, Maryland

A cold front is going to move through the region overnight tonight, but it isn’t a strong cold front, and it is reinforced by a stout little batch of high pressure. This will allow things to clear out nicely as we run the length of Maryland, eventually crossing directly into West Virginia. The temperature should rebound a bit as well, given the sun, and post boundary fog won’t be wide spread. If only it was a bit greener, this might be the perfect drive.

Parkersburg, West Virginia

Ames, Iowa to Farmington, New Mexico

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It’s been a while since we have taken a road trip, and today’s journey takes us from a town that is host to Iowa State University, a school that is playing in tonight’s Sweet 16 basketball game. If you aren’t a basketball fan, then Farmington, in the 4 Corners area, is a scenic spring drive away. It will take two days and 1052 miles to cover the ground. The first day will cover less mileage, but the pace will be just shy of 63mph, and give us a daily target of 503 miles for the end of the day. The weekend approaches, and with that, perhaps, spring break.

DAY ONE (Saturday)

Ames, Iowa

Boy, that map, with the thousand miles of roadway, but no coast on any portion of it is very unsettling for some reason. Let’s get moving and stop thinking about it! Speaking of dry (oops, guess I didn’t stop thinking about it), high pressure, chilly for late spring, has descended into the northern Plains. This should keep things dry, and hopefully calm as well. We’ll get off the freeway in Kearney, Nebraska and head southwest into Kansas. Temperatures will jump around then, but so too will the southerly winds. It may be breezy, and it will certainly be dusty, but it will also be around 80 as we pull into Rexford, in northwest Kansas, and before we pass I-70.

DAY TWO (Sunday)

Low pressure moving out of Wyoming often sounds like a problem, but on this journey, not particularly. The warm front we cross on Saturday is stemming from a low moving out of Wyoming, and it is going to be bringing warmer air north, but out of the Southwest, and not inflow from the Gulf. Those dusty winds we contended with on Saturday night will probably be a part of our entire western Kansas experience between Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Temperatures will continue to be pleasant on the right side of the boundary, with highs in the low 80s. The winds will taper as we approach Walsenburg, Colorado, and really taper off for the rest of our mountain drive into Farmington. It’s a good weekend to hit the road.

Farmington, New Mexico