I like the road trips that are more or less diagonal across the country, but this one has some pretty well worn interstate routes to follow. The drive will cover 1326 miles, which we will spend 2 long days accomplishing. All those interstates mean we can travel at oer 68mph, and our first day will conclude after 545 miles, leaving plenty of meat on the bone for Wednesday.
DAY ONE (Tuesday)
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The day will begin beautifully in the Land of Enchantment, and we will head east through New Mexico, encountering little by way of significant weather along the way. Storms rumbling now will have a tough time petering out through the morning over west Texas, but as we shift into the Panhandle, things will finally begin winding down. This is because the dry line will start becoming active in eastern New Mexico. It looks like we will thread the needle! It should be hot and stuffy, but dry in Oklahoma City as we arrive for the night.
DAY TWO (Wednesday) Wednesday looks even better, which is great, given the long drive we have ahead of us. We’re going to cover 4 states, and may not see a cloud (though maybe to start the day would be our best chance.) Temperatures will be getting cooler as we go, but make no mistake – pack your sunscreen and plan on finding a pool.
It’s Friday, so it’s time to head to Albuquerque. Isn’t that all the logic you need? We’re taking a driver through Texas in a lot of two lane highways. Our drive will cover 657 fairly slow miles, at a pace of 62.9mph, but we’ll wrap this drive up in one day! We’ll even get an hour back, and our 10 hour drive will end a mere 9 hours after we start. Road
Killeen, Texas
This is a classic summer day in the south central US. The pavement will be melting because of the heat, but it will be sunny, and we’ll be able to drive without an interruption (aside from bathroom breaks — drink a lot of water with this heat) through the morning and early afternoon. The dry line is expected to set up somewhere in eastern New Mexico. I don’t think the likelihood we get clipped by a storm is very high, but if we see any rain, it will come between Fort Sumner and the eastern extent of the Albuquerque metro. I said no rain in the Albuquerque forecast earlier, and I’m standing by that!
Not only do we get a long road trip, we get one that moves diagonally across the country. It will take 5 days, and a with a long 5th day at that, to cover 2,829 miles, at a pace of 67mph. That means our regular 8 hour days will be through after 538 miles. This is going to be a long trek, but at least it ends at the beach!
DAY ONE (Friday)
Bend, Oregon
It’s getting hot out west, and we are certainly going to notice that a ridge is building into the region, at the very least. We’ll be driving through some pretty rural country between Bend and the Boise metro, and again after 84 splits from 86 and heads south to Utah, and the views should be, if not spectacular, then at least unspoiled by clouds. We’ll just cross into the Beehive State, and finish in Snowville, Utah after day one.
DAY TWO (Saturday) We will see the topography of our drive change pretty dramatically on Saturday. After starting the drive between some major mountain ranges, in the Great Basin, we will first hit the Wasatch in Utah and then start climbing the Rockies. All of this will be done in the sunshine, but some afternoon showers and storms in peaks of the Rockies might creep over I-70 by the end of our drive. We’ll end the day in Vail, Colorado, which is probably just as charming outside of ski season.
DAY THREE (Sunday) Low pressure is going to get going again in the central Plains, with strong storms again becoming likely on Sunday. This time, however, the threat is going to be further to the north. The storms will pop up north and west of us as we drive through Kansas, emerging only late in the day. They will leave the better part of Kansas alone during the day, but after we stop in Solomon, in the north central part of the state, we should expect some storms to rumble through that night.
DAY FOUR (Monday) The cold front is going to bog down in Missouri as the low shifts northward. Since the boundary did peel out of Kansas, though, we will be in some clear air through Kansas City, but after that, some scattered clouds with some embedded showers are going to be possible in the Show Me State, with the best chances coming between Columbia and St. Louis. We’ll make it to southern Illinois for our final night of the trip, stopping just north of Paducah, in Goreville, Illinois.
DAY FIVE (Tuesday) Now ahead of the front, into some summer time heat and humidity, the threat for showers and stors is going to pervade the entire day. The best chance for rain will show up between Knoxville and Asheville, but after that point, it will be the evening, and instability will be at it’s highest. Scattered showers and storms will be possible throughout the Carolinas. Fortunately at this point, that activity is going to thrive on the heat of the day, and the evening is going to be dry in Myrtle Beach.
It’s going to be a one day cross section of middle America. From northern Indiana to northwest Arkansas, we will take a long, 11+ hour day, covering 742 miles, for a pace of nearly 66mph. Indiana and Arkansas are closer than you think!
Elkhart, Indiana
A weakening system over the Great Lakes is getting drawn into the sphere of influence administered by a larger system trekking through the Gulf Stream. The weaker trailer is bringing some light rain to Elkhart tonight, but will be out of the picture by tomorrow morning. The feature is dangling a trough southward before it curls to the west, where it will lie stationary tomorrow. High pressure is building in over the north central US, but it won’t overpower the boundary and send it further south. Instead, the tail of the front will pass through the Ozarks, and while we will probably use our northern route to avoid any visibility issues, we will still enjoy them in their misty glory upon our arrival in Fayetteville.
We’re headed westward on a three day trek out of Texas. Expect a pace of 66.8mph for our 3 1/2 days of travel. That means full days will cover about 534 miles, and we will see quite a bit of southwestern, desert and Spanish inspired sites. This is the time of year to travel through the area, as it won’t be too stormy, and it won’t be too hot. Yet.
DAY ONE (Wednesday)
Victoria, Texas
There is a large system moving through the center of the country today, and a cold front will sweep through east Texas without fanfare this afternoon. One might lead you to believe that will completely clear out the atmosphere behind it, but it will not. Another high Plains disturbance will start the wheels in motion almost immediately. This won’t do a lot to our drive tomorrow, but some more moisture being pulled into the region will mean some popcorn clouds through Fort Stockton. After that though, yeah, it will be pretty quiet, and the day will end in Wild Horse, Texas, which is north of the Big Bend, but about as far from civilization as you can get.
DAY TWO (Thursday) The drive from Wild Horse in west Texas will be briefly enlivened by passage through El Paso, Las Cruces and Tucson, but not by much weather. There is some signal for a little bit of moisture south of Arizona, so sure, maybe a cloud or two as we approach the south metro of Phoenix, but I’m not buying into it too much. I said it won’t be hot in Arizona for the drive, and by that I mean it won’t be as hot as it can be in Arizona, with temperatures in the mid 90s as we arrive in Chandler, on the south side of the Phoenix metro area on Thursday afternoon.
DAY THREE (Friday) This is the kind of day one should expect when traversing the Mojave. Skies will be mostly clear and temperatures will be warm. We’ll make it to the 5 and head north around Santa Clarita, ending up in Lost Hills in the Central Valley, and call our day good.
DAY FOUR (Saturday) This is a pretty simple northbound trek to our final destination. We’ll see Stockton and Sacramento on the way to Chico, but not a heck of a lot of weather. A prevailing west wind will produce some clouds in the mountains east of our route, but sunglasses are still needed until we arrive.
Could this job be done in one day? Maybe, but it wouldn’t be an entirely safe drive, so we’ll split it into a day and a half, covering 874 miles, at a pace of 67.4mph, meaning we will be done with our Sunday drive about 539 miles from St. Joseph.
DAY ONE (Sunday)
St. Joseph, Missouri
A dry cold front will be sweeping through the central Plains on Sunday morning, which is notable if you intend on driving a high profile vehicle down to Texas, as breezes will likely kick up in northern Kansas. It will still be breezy through Oklahoma, but just normal “Oklahoma breezy” and partly cloudy. Generally, look for pretty decent driving conditions. We’ll cross the Red River and finish the day in Corral City, between Denton and Fort Worth.
DAY TWO (Monday)
So that just leaves us with a 5 hour jaunt through the Lone Star State to Victoria. Low pressure in the High Plains will start spinning, but we shouldn’t notice it at the surface before we get to Victoria. Instead, we will see clouds become more prominent, and maybe a little bit lower as the day progresses, meaning a grayer end to the trip than we began.
We’re going to be taking a trip through the northern High Plains. The beginning of spring in this part of the world is liable to be pretty gnarly this time of year, but with the winter we’ve had, that just doesn’t seem as likely. We’re on a 2 1/2 day trek that will cover 1434 miles at a blistering pace of 66mph, with day’s one and two finishing after 528 miles.
DAY ONE (Saturday)
Davenport, Iowa
Despite the most formidable severe weather outbreak in at least a couple of years occurring in the middle of the country over the last couple of days, there is an unassociated Alberta Clipper moving through the Canadian Prairies. This will lead to a trough of cool air in the Upper Midwest as we get going on Saturday, but crisp blue skies will emerge by the time we hit Sioux City. The blue skies continue west past Mitchell to Plankinton, South Dakota, our stop for the night.
DAY TWO (Sunday) Not much is going to change above ground as we continue westbound through South Dakota. We’ll take a jog north from the Black Hills and avoid Wyoming, but make it to the Canadian Plains southeast of Billings. The town we stop in will be Toluca, which is going to arrive about a half hour before we hit Billings.
DAY THREE (Monday) Another clipper is going to sweep out of the Alberta Rockies overnight Sunday into Monday, and a lee trough will kick up some clouds in Montana as a result. There is a whole lot of Montana still left to drive through, and fortunately, it will all be dry. We’ll settle into Missoula and have a clear view of the scenery, because the weather will be quite cooperative.
We’re going to spend most of this 5 hour drive in Alabama, touching Montgomery and Mobile along the way. This pretty short drive will cover 327 miles at a pace of 64.1mph, which is also pretty reasonable for a short trip. All right, places to be, let’s go.
Columbus, Georgia
There is a strong area of low pressure in the Canadian Maritimes, and it is producing a cold front that is very active even in central Florida tonight. The boundary is reinforced by an area of low pressure emerging in the Gulf of Mexico. The increasing circulation will induce northerly winds in the southeastern US. While Florida will be particularly rainy, Alabama and it’s neighbors will be seasonably cool, with bright blue skies. It won’t even be humid in southern Mississippi when we arrive Sunday afternoon.
A business trip this week. Why a business trip? Because it will start on Monday and last through Thursday. Expect it to cover 2074 miles at a pace of a little more than 69mph, which will get us a healthy 553 miles a day for the first three days of our trek. And not to spoil anything, but the weather does look good.
DAY ONE (Monday)
San Luis Obispo, California
High pressure is back out there, everyone. it’s dominating the majority of the country this week, and the southwest US is no exception. The hardest part of the day will be leaving San Luis Obispo (because it’s so lovely) but we will arrive with no concerns at the Crookton Road exit, east of Seligman, Arizona.
DAY TWO (Tuesday) Nothing is really going to change on Tuesday, except for our location. We will see some rising and falling terrain, but not any real weather change. Heck, we’ll even be on I-40 the whole way. We’ll make it to Tucumcari, New Mexico, before this easy day concludes.
DAY THREE (Wednesday) Our good luck continues on Wednesday, as we spend much of the day in a calm, quiet Texas. The road will be clear, but be wary of traffic in Dallas, because it will have been a while since we saw any. The jet will start forming a kink south of Texas, and that can portend bad news for the atmosphere, but it won’t yet, not on Wednesday. We stop in Canton, Texas for one last pit stop.
DAY FOUR (Thursday) The trough will indeed start stirring up some wet weather, but it won’t emerge until after we are on our way into Mississippi. The rain will be over Mexico, low pressure in west Texas, and mostly sunny skies in Hattiesburg.
There is nothing more exciting than a January road trip, cross country through the northern US. What could go wrong? We’re going to travel for 5 days, covering 2,877 miles. Day 5 will be our longest day, after the first 4 days will be through after consuming 548 miles at a pace of 68.5mph. Don’t forget the scraper!
DAY ONE (Saturday)
Olympia, Washington
The rain will be falling in in western Washington as we get our drive started, and we can enjoy the Seattle area traffic in that same rain. Of course, we will be getting on I-94 near Snoqualmie, which means we will be forced to contend with some mountain snow through the Cascades. The system will be strong enough that we will still see some rain, albeit lighter, in the space between the Cascades and the northern Rockies. Visibility will be limited if we have designs on seeing Spokane as we pass by. The snow will return again in the western faces of the Rockies along the Idaho-Montana border, but the precipitation will finally be squeezed out of the feature, and when e get into the eastern facing valleys, ultimately stopping in Bearmouth, Montana, which is between Butte and Missoula.
DAY TWO (Sunday) The system in question is headed southward through the weekend, which will rob Montana of much by way of potential snowfall. Upsloping flow will make it a little bit warmer from Bozeman to Big Timber. There will still be clouds throughout eastern Montana, but the precipitation will dry up as we hit flatter ground. We will reach the northeast corner of Wyoming and the small town of Colony to stop for the night.
DAY THREE (Monday) While we sleep, the low pressure center is going to sink further south and east, tapping into some serious Gulf moisture as it intensifies. The bulk of the moisture is going to be spent in the central Plains, but an inverted trough will set up in the Upper Midwest. There will be a little bit of snow in western South Dakota overnight, but as we get moving, the first chance for falling snow will be around Chamberlain, as we cross the Missouri River. I say falling snow, because in South Dakota, there are no trees and there is a bunch of wind. Don’t be surprised if blowing snow is a major issue, even with just a couple of inches, maybe less. Steadier snow will continue in eastern South Dakota and into southern Minnesota. It’s been a quiet start to the winter in Minnesota, and the snow falling will be the first they’ve seen along I-90 this winter. It should be well managed, but it will be slow driving until we reach Blue Earth for our stop.
DAY FOUR (Tuesday) Our drive Tuesday is going to be complicated, but at the same time, not so much. The system is well advertised as a big winter weather make headed for New England and the Mid Atlantic, but don’t sleep on the potential for big snow in the Great Lakes either. We will be fine, probably, through southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, but it will take a sudden and fairly swift turn for the worse around Madison, and will be pretty nasty right on through Granger, Indiana, where we hope to make it for the night. Wind will be howling, making for ugly commutes throughout Chicago, as it will drive snow and make things very slow, and reduce visibility significantly. It’s a little ways out, but right now, the target maximum for snow is right through the heart of Chicago, and it could stack up 6-12″ in some spots. It will be a relief to reach Granger.
DAY FIVE (Wednesday) The significant weather will be behind us by the time we head out on Wednesday, but much of the eastern Great Lakes will be cleaning up after this major winter storm. There will still be some howling west winds and some mountain snow through the Appalachians of Pennsylvania, but that threat will be winding down as the day continues. The wind, too, will start to wrap up as we head through the Poconos, ultimately arriving in New York, which will start getting itself back to normal as we arrive. Or whatever normal is for New York City.
New York City, New York By Dllu – This file has been extracted from another file, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=126278106
