Before we get to our massive road trips coming up in the next few days, we will start with a short, 179 mile journey. The trip will consume only about 3 hours, on a pace of about 63mph. The weather is taking a turn for the worse in this part of the country, so despite the length, it will be interesting.
Lafayette, Indiana
Man, that is an old picture of Lafayette. When was Bank One still around? It’s the image I remember, though, having lived my college years just across the Wabash River in West Lafayette. Speaking of west, that’s the direction we are headed. Leaving on Saturday is a fantastic idea, as the weather is going to take a severe turn for the worse in the middle of the country this weekend. While this stretch of real estate is likely to see several inches of snow on Sunday and Monday, the drive will be under high pressure for Saturday morning. It may be a bit on the cool side, but it’s not like we are walking to Peoria, right?
A product of having a state shaped like a boot, or, given the season, a stocking, is that if you are traveling from one part of the state to another, you are liable to end up spending a chunk of that drive in another state. This 4 hour drive that begins and ends in Louisiana will be spent mostly in Mississippi. It’s a 282 mile drive, likely fairly smooth sailing on Christmas Day, but plan for a pace of 66.9mph.
New Orleans, Louisiana
There may be some lingering showers as we get out of town to head over the (Mississippi) River and through the woods for grandmother’s house on Christmas Day. Momentum for the storm presently raging in east Texas will be gone by the time we drive in the morning, so heavy rain isn’t anticipated, and we may see clear skies for bits and pieces in southwestern Mississippi. It won’t last the whole time, though. We will reach Jackson with the looming specter of more, and potentially stronger rain showers redeveloping, and impeding us the rest of the way back to the Louisiana border. Rain will begin lightening up again as we cross back into our original state, but light rain will still be possible in Monroe.
New Orleans is a lot further south from Virginia Beach than I thought when this forecast first came up. It will be a tour of the southeast on this two day drive, which will bring us to New Orleans on Christmas Day. Our sleigh will be moving at 67.8mph for 1076 miles on this holiday road trip.
DAY ONE (Tuesday)
Virginia Beach, Virginia
A little bit of a perturbation in the Bight of Georgia is going to pull northward through the day today, and brush the Carolinas with a little bit of wet weather. We will skirt the periphery of this rain, which again, should be light, for our Christmas Eve journey, and it will erode both in the face of advancing colder air from the northeast, and simple distance from the sea. We will be in the clear as we turn west from Florence, South Carolina, and should then have quieter times through the remainder of the Palmetto State, and pull in for the night in Greensboro, Georgia, near Lake Oconee.
DAY TWO (Wednesday) Merry Christmas, travelers. We will get started from Lake Oconee and head into Alabama, relatively unscathed, save for Atlanta traffic. The Gulf will be opening up as high pressure moves into the east Coast, which will mean some afternoon rain and thunderstorms in the Mississippi Valley. The threat for rain will begin near Evergreen, Alabama, and continue to New Orleans. Stormy conditions are probably going to be more pervasive inland, so hopefully, the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans aren’t too rainy to spend Christmas afternoon.
It’s a classic cross country trek today, as we voyage from west to east over the course of 5 days. It’s 2813 miles between the two cities, and our pace will be about 67mph. Our 8 hour drives every day (for the first 4 days, anyway) will be about 535.8 miles. It’s December, so let’s hope the weather holds!
DAY ONE (Thursday)
Corvallis, Oregon
Long days are ahead, and we will be losing hours as we had eastward. Day one will see us pass from Pacific to Mountain time, and also from damp to dry conditions. A bundle of energy is moving into the Oregon coast overnight, and some of the light rain and fog is going to linger in the Cascades as we start the day. If we climb high enough, we will probably see some flakes as well. The moisture looks to be trapped east of the Cascades, about as far east as Juntara. If we can make it to Juntara, we will make it to clearer skies. The crossing into Idaho will be fine, as will navigating the Boise area. The drive will end in Tuttle, in southern Idaho.
DAY TWO (Friday) The system won’t maintain it’s energy as it presses eastward, partially because of the terrain, and partly because the stronger energy is consolidating southwest of Vancouver Island. Still, there may be some valley fog in Idaho, especially early, but northern Utah and southern Wyoming are under high pressure. The day will end in Elk Mountain, Wyoming.
DAY THREE (Saturday) As we rest in Elk Mountain, the atmosphere will be churning in the Plains. An area of low pressure will begin to emerge in western Kansas and start pulling cooler air southwards and moist air to the north. We will be chasing the precipitation by late afternoon in Nebraska, and never quite catch it, but this development will introduce some chillier temperatures. Bundle up as we conclude the day in Pleasant Dale, Nebraska, just west of Lincoln.
DAY FOUR (Sunday) False alarm, everyone! The wet weather and what not that had been feared is going to march further east much quicker than we will. Whew! This will be the most civilization we will have seen on this trip so far, as we will pass through Omaha, Des Moines, the Quad Cities and end up in Chicago by the time the day is in. It will have rained in Chicago in the morning, and who knows if that will lead to carry over traffic concerns, but if we get too exhausted, it’s all right because South Holland, just before the Indiana line, is our destination for the evening.
DAY FIVE (Monday) It appears as the Plains are just fixing to be active this December. Low pressure is developing in the southern Plains (again) on Monday. It will be stronger and rainier than the previous version, and a little bit further to the east. Could we catch some of it? If we do, that would be bad luck, and also, we should get out of any rain before we reach South Bend. The drive through Ohio will be dry, and we won’t have any precip problems in Pennsylvania. Maybe a lingering spot of valley fog as moisture from the initial low works it’s way into New England, but otherwise it will be unseasonably pleasant in Lancaster as we arrive.
Michigan (and congrats to the Wolverines today) and Alabama are merely a day’s drive apart, so long as you are willing to spend about 9 hours in the car. It’s a 639 mile drive, which puts the drive at about 68mph. I-65 is a fast driving road. Michigan already played today, but Auburn and Alabama have just started. Read all about this trip as you enjoy the game!
Battle Creek, Michigan
It’s been a pretty snowy stretch for the Great Lakes, but that hasn’t translated to the Lower Peninsula. Cold air is making itself comfortable along the I-65 corridor, and in a lot of cases, that has meant clear skies. There is a weak perturbation along the Ohio River that could spit out some flurries as we drove through Kentucky, but it should be winding down as we reach the Commonwealth. Clear skies will return again as we dip into Tennessee and on to Florence.
I like writing road trip forecasts, but doesn’t this seem backwards? It’s getting into the depths of November, and the plan is to leave Orlando for New England? It’s going to take two days, including one that is quite a bit longer than the first to cover 1324 miles. The pace, largely taking I-95 northward, will be 66.7mph, covering 534 miles on the first day, and leaving a grueling day on Friday. The best we can hope is that the weather cooperates.
DAY ONE (Friday)
Orlando, Florida
Low pressure that has moved out of the middle of the country, and is parked in the now over the mid-Atlantic. An associated cold front is now pushed into the Atlantic, with colder air digging into the southeastern United States. The air will be stable behind the cold front, which means clear skies and breezy, but fairly easy driving to Vander, North Carolina, just outside of Fayetteville.
DAY TWO (Friday) Wrap around moisture is a big deal on this feature, bringing pretty heavy snow into the northern Appalachians. We will be in the dry sector, in the lee of the Appalachians to start the drive, but by the time we reach Washington, we’ll start to encounter some light precipitation. Fortunately, on this side of the system, it will be warm enough that precipitation will be falling as light rain, and will continue to fall as such until we start our turn inland in Connecticut. Some of this light rain will mix with light snow in western Massachusetts, and a wintry mix is in store for our arrival in Manchester.
We’re headed southeastward to start the work week. Getting into the middle of November, a trek to the beach might be a good idea. It will take two days to get from Illinois to the Treasure Coast, covering 1162 miles. That will cover nearly 70 miles an hour, and we will over 554 miles on our first day, leaving a longer day for Tuesday. Beach day!
DAY ONE (Monday)
Champaign, Illinois
Low pressure in the Great Lakes has hooked up with the remnants of Rafael at this point, which is slowing the eastward traffic down a bit. By the time we get going on Monday morning, it will have dried out in east Central Illinois, and will be dry, if with some patchy clouds, for our route. The tail of the cold front, fused to the remnants of Rafael, will stall through Georgia, bringing about some mid to lower level overcast through the Smokey Mountains as we pass through Chattanooga. The day will conclude in Calhoun, just north of Atlanta.
DAY TWO (Tuesday) That low in the Gulf will refuse to go away, but will get forced apart by a burgeoning ridge of high pressure in the eastern two thirds of the country. The low moving out of the Great Lakes will be safely off in the Canadian Maritimes, and our drive on Tuesday to Sebastian will be done with very good conditions, save for all those Florida drivers to worry about.
Our road trip tonight takes us in a route that we normally wouldn’t for this trip, because of road closures still left by hurricane Helene. As it stands, this will be a two day adventure across the Appalachians and to the southern Plains, covering 1218 miles. This mountainous sojourn will be at a pace of 68.2mph, which is pretty quick, actually. The first day will end after 545 miles, which is a mighty bit of driving.
DAY ONE (Tuesday)
Rocky Mount, North Carolina By Harris Walker – https://www.flickr.com/photos/harriswalkerphotography/3342646285/in/album-72157615074534836/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61707633
Our drive out of North Carolina will have to swing north because of road closures, and we will snake through Virginia. As we make our way through the southwestern part of the shape, the moist onshore flow wrapping around a ridge of high pressure will lead to at least some low clouds, but potentially some fog and mist, particularly from Hillsville to Wytheville. Eastern Tennessee will give us a bit of clear air in which to enjoy the sights. We will reach Lebanon, just before Nashville, and await a line of showers and thunderstorms that will dampen Lebanon as we sleep.
DAY TWO (Wednesday) Or will it? Instead of moving into Lebanon, Rafael’s presence in the Gulf will stall the front and allow it to wither. We will pass through a few showers between about Jackson, Tennessee and Little Rock, which may make passing through Memphis a bit of a headache, but we will see some clear skies in the Ozarks. We’ll trek into eastern Oklahoma with cooler temperatures and clearer skies than Tulsa has seen lately.
We are free of hurricanes for a couple of days, at least, so we can take a guilt free trip from Illinois to New England. The drive will cover 1,152 miles over the course of two days. The pace of the drive will be about 66.5mph, which is pretty good, considering it terminates in New England. The faster of the two days will conclude after 532 miles. Hurricane season is also foliage season, so New England is a perfectly reasonable place to visit.
DAY ONE (Sunday)
Springfield, Illinois
High pressure is parked over the southeastern part of the country. It was crucial to keeping Milton from moving any further north, and instead cutting across Florida and jetting into the Atlantic. The storm was very bad where it struck, but it missed out on a lot of geography, which is good news. Now after the ridge has performed it’s life saving duty, the northern fringe is pressing south, thanks to a strong wave skirting the Great Lakes. There is quite a bit of wet weather in Lower Michigan, ready to drift into northern Ohio. As we travel out of Illinois through central Indiana Sunday, it will be dry, but increasingly cloudy in Ohio. I think the rain will b in Pennsylvania be the time we get to the eastern part of the Buckeye state, but thre could be a small bit of damp in Palmyra (southeast of Cleveland near the Pennsylvania border), where our day will come to a close.
DAY TWO (Monday) A surprising amount of cold air will trail the cold front with the system moving into the Great Lakes. It will be chilly when we start in Palmyra, and there will be a few spots of showers peaking around the western exposures of the Poconos. Further north, higher terrain in New England will likely see their first snowflakes of the year. As the sun comes up, and the cold air settles in and snuffs out any instability, we will get into clearer air. The drive through Connecticut will be thick with traffic, I am sure, but it will dry and chilly until we reach Providence.
We’re headed Gulfward to start the new week. This drive doesn’t quite mirror our drive leading into the weekend, and will lead to a longer drive, lasting into a third day, while also at a pace that is faster, covering 67.5mph. This will allow us to cover 539.7 miles the first two days, leaving the rest of the 1519 miles for Wednesday.
DAY ONE (Monday)
Manchester, New Hampshire
In a manner that is frighteningly similar to the one seen on our way up to Manchester last week, a wave will be moving into the Mid-Atlantic just as we are driving through the area. The drive through New England and downstate New York should be dry, if increasingly cloudy. The threat for rain will pick up around Allentown, and will persist through the remainder of the drive through the Keystone State, as well as the snips of Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia we see (We will touch 8 states in all through this drive). The day will end with some light rain, as it will have been spotty throughout the afternoon, in Stephen City, Virginia, which is on the south side of Winchester.
DAY TWO (Tuesday)
A big lingering area of low pressure is hanging out in the Gulf Stream, and is slowing down any progress through the Eastern Time Zone. There won’t be an organized system, so to speak, but the lingering showers will turn into morning fog on Tuesday up against the Blue Ridge Mountains, with rain picking up pretty quickly again as the day begins. As we start to get into the mountains, we’ll eventually get to the western face of the mountains, in Tennessee, and we should start to enjoy some drier pavement from about Bristol to Chattanooga. It won’t remain entirely dry, as a reinforcing shot of cold air might bring some more wet weather to Tennessee as the lingering moisture starts trying to organize late in the day. We won’t spend much more than 15 miles in northwest Georgia, but we are still going to post up for the night in Slygo.
DAY THREE (Wednesday)
The NHC is monitoring a developing feature off the coast of Nicaragua, which will start drifting further to the north through the next couple of days. Models are starting to agree that it is looking more and more like it will become a tropical storm, and ultimately, a hurricane before making land fall, unfortunately probably along the Gulf Coast. Guidance suggests that landfall will come around Fort Walton Beach on Thursday, which furthermore means our drive on Wednesday towards the Gulf Coast will be very dependent on the pace of the storm. I suspect we will see a little bit of rain in Alabama, but it will clear out fairly quickly. Ironically, moisture will be flowing off shore, which isn’t generally a great way to produce a lot of storms, so I don’t think we will see much rain. In fact, I would say by the time we reach Gulfport, it should be dry. Won’t last, but my forecast doesn’t go beyond Wednesday.
