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

Gadsden, Alabama to Ames, Iowa

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We are off on another trek, this time lasting a day and a half, covering 884 miles. The first day will be the full day, and will conclude after about 532 miles. The pacing on this trip will be 66.5mph, which is pretty good! Let’s hope for dry roads!

DAY ONE (Monday)

Gadsden, Alabama

The weather is clear now, what with our cavalcade of wintry weather finally clearing out of the southeastern US. The interstates are getting cleared first, but the beginning of our drive, through hard hit Tennessee, specifically Nashville, which is still trying to thaw. It’s snow in Kentucky and southern Illinois, but that is a lot easier to push to the side of the road. Our drive will end in Wentzville, Missouri, a western suburb of St. Louis.

DAY TWO (Tuesday)
Behind the ridge that is bringing the pleasant weather to the Mississippi Valley is the next upper level trough, which I need to assure you is not like the last two. Nevertheless, some precipitation will be coming together as we get started on Tuesday morning. There may be a few flurries between Wentzville and Hannibal, but it certainly isn’t an all day affair for us, driving into Ames, which will be at least warmer than it has been.

Ames, Iowa

Raleigh, North Carolina to Gadsden, Alabama

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We are taking a one day trip, but it is going to be a slog through part of the world that has been the focus of wintry conditions this season. I can’t imagine that this bodes well for the journey. It is presently allotted for about 8 hours and 525 miles, covering 65.8mph. I hope. We just have to try to trust the local DOTs.

Fantastic news for anyone looking to travel in the Southeast: no new precipitation is expected for that particular stretch of land. Unfortunately, it won’t be getting any warmer, either. The chilly conditions, on top of a half foot of snow, in a part of the world that doesn’t get a chance to plow very often suggests that whatever snow fell over the last couple of days is probably still going to be there. The snow had a difficult time clambering over the higher terrain in the Appalachians, There is at least light snow as far to the west as Atlanta, where the eastern suburbs still have an inch or two on the ground. Fortunately, the roads will dry up to conclude the dry. Expect some tentative drivers joining the road with increasingly impatient drivers. The traffic should start to wind down for that last drive. Maybe then we can appreciate all that sunshine.

Gadsden, Alabama

Rome, Georgia to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

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It’s a January road trip through Appalachia. Perhaps not as beautiful as the summer or fall, and maybe even a bit more treacherous, but… .well, I guess I’m not doing a good job of selling this trip. It will take us one long day to cover the 664 miles at a pace of 64.7mph.

Rome, Georgia
By Thomson200 – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63993488

There is a weak little wave moving into the Great Lakes, dangling a fairly inefficient cold front through the Mississippi Valley tonight, which is going to be arriving in the Appalachians tomorrow. The precipitation will be more likely on the western faces of the terrain, and for our drive from Rome to about Beckley, West Virginia, when the chance for snow will filter back in. The snow will persist through the Mountaineer State, and as we arrive in Pittsburgh – yep, snow there too. It won’t be Lake enhanced, and it is going to be very cold, so just expect some fluff.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Atlantic City, New Jersey to Sacramento, California

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Our trek on this day is going to cover the nation, and will last a week. A real American road trip. The trip is going to span 2,846 miles, which covers about 66 miles an hour. This lengthy trip is going to be broken apart in about 524.5 mile daily chunks.

DAY ONE (Wednesday)

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Low pressure in the Great Lakes is doing something we can all appreciate: Moving quickly. The low will be out of the picture by the time we start heading out on Wednesday morning, and while the models aren’t capturing the Lake effect snow very well, it doesn’t much matter. We will indeed be driving just south of Lake Erie, but I don’t think the fetch will be right to bother us in northern Ohio. The drive will end in Sandusky, Ohio of conclude the first day on the road.

DAY TWO (Thursday)
Thursday isn’t going to be great. We will start out fine, and make it through Chicago with little problem, but our next fast moving feature will be emerging from the Plains, and getting stronger and wetter before slamming into the Midwest. We will encounter rain starting around Joliet, and really getting going as we reach the Quad Cities. The rain will continue, heavy in spots, through Iowa City and on to our destination for the night in Williamsburg, Iowa, drenched.

DAY THREE (Friday)
The back side of our little storm will transition over to a bit of light snow while we rest in Williamsburg. The core of the system is going to continue on to the Great Lakes, and while there won’t be accumulation, the flurries on top of refreezing ice could make the entire drive through the Hawkeye state. No precipitation while we travel in Nebraska, but there is going to be a weak lee trough kicking up clouds as far east as Paxton, Friday’s destination.

DAY FOUR (Saturday)
After a couple of tougher days, we might be a bit trepidatious about hitting the mountains. Fortunately, a ridge will be moving into the area, and driving the Nebraska Panhandle and the bulk of Wyoming will be pretty easy. We won’t make it out of Wyoming on Saturday, stopping for the day in Piedmont.

DAY FIVE (Sunday)
We have a bit to go to wrap this trip up, but by this point, we will have undergone a significant change to the pattern. Surface high pressure off shore is stifling that Pineapple Express that has been so problematic this winter, and clear skies beckon from Utah, Nevada and on to California.

Bay City, Michigan to Atlantic City, New Jersey

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According to Google, it would be almost 8 hours to fly from the Bay City area to Atlantic City. It’s eleven and a half hours to make that drive. Combined with the wait at the airport, getting your bags, rental cars, etc. It’s probably shorter and definitely easier to drive. We’ll do this in one big day, covering the 741 miles at a pace of 64.4 miles.

Bay City, Michigan

As has been the case for weeks now, there is another feature rippling through the Great Lakes. This one is moving in from the central Plains, which is further south than anything we’ve seen for a while. That means it hasn’t really been able to tap into much moisture yet, which is great, because there isn’t any precipitation yet. It is cloudy now in Bay City, which will keep things from cooling too much overnight. Temperatures, in fact, will start to warm up overnight, which means the light precipitation moving through lower Michigan tomorrow morning will fall as rain, with a bit of a mix just as we get started. The threat will mostly wane after we pull through Toledo. Clouds will chase us into Pittsburgh, but by the time we get to the Allegheny Mountains, the sun should pop out. The low pressure center is going to be pretty broad, and the rotation associated with it will carry off shore. The southwesterly fetch could lead to a bit of low clouds and fog late in Atlantic City upon our arrival.

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Dallas, Texas to Bay City, Michigan

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This trip might not seem that long, but it’s actually going to last for parts of two years. The trip actually covers 1213 miles, and will last for two days, with one being a couple hours longer than the other. We will move at a pace of 66.1mph, which means we will be spending New Year’s Eve about 529 miles from Dallas.

DAY ONE (Wednesday)

The real show right now is the copious lake effect event happening closer to our destination in Bay City. More precipitation is moving into the Southwest as well, but that won’t be hurdling the Rockies. Instead, we can expect high pressure and mostly sunny skies from Texas through Oklahoma and into Missouri, where we will reach Cuba for the Countdown.

DAY TWO (Sunday)
The disturbance in the Great Lakes is winding down. The parent feature is shifting off into the North Atlantic and becoming a problem for Baffin Island. I’m not fully convinced there won’t be snow in Lower Michigan on New Year’s Day, as wind still looks to be predominantly from the west. That said, our route is really going to be in range for the snow between about Michigan City, Indiana and Paw Paw, Michigan. That’s maybe an hour? And even then, only if the snow slows down traffic. Bay City should be living the good life in the eastern part of the state. Happy New Year!