Wow. I’m not sure you could find a longer, flatter stretch of west to east driving in the country. We will see a great deal of prairie over the day and a half drive. We’ll cover 953 miles, which will be traversed over at a pace of 70.1mph, which might be the highest I’ve seen. That means day one will be through after 561 miles, or so.
DAY ONE (Sunday)
Pueblo, Colorado
There isn’t much to say for the day on Sunday. High pressure in the center of the country will keep things dry in the Plains, and unseasonably warm. There is going to be a bit of zonal flow across the Rockies, producing showers and overcast for the first stretch along the Front Range, but clear skies the rest of the way, where we will stop in Odessa, Nebraska, near Kearney, for the layover.
DAY TWO (Monday) It’s going to be a warm day for a late September drive, but otherwise uneventful, aside from maybe traffic and construction in Omaha and Des Moines. The directions should be pretty easy too. I-80 to the destination, and there it is.
Victoria-Weather posted the best forecast for Pueblo a couple of weeks ago, if you conveniently forget a 36 minute stretch on the afternoon of the 12th. V-W topped all other outlets when we just talked about the temperatures. But there was a brief spit of rain on the afternoon of the 12th, which crashed V-W all the way to 6th place, and instead handed a victory to Accuweather and the National Weather Service, who converged on the same score. Actuals: June 11th, High 91, Low 54 June 12th, .01 inches of rain, High 91, Low 53
We are taking a two and a half day drive through the western US on this occasion. Expect heat, undulating terrain and a pace of 67mph, or so, with a daily goal of 537 miles. Driving in California is a challenge of it’s own, so we can plan a half day drive in the Golden State. Westward, ho!
DAY ONE (Wednesday)
Pueblo, Colorado
It’s getting busy in the Plains, with showers and storms offering quite a bit for storm chasers to enjoy. The storms usually show up in the afternoon and north of the Palmer Divide lately, and neither of those will apply to our time in Pueblo. In fact, eastern Colorado is looking at a respite from the stormy conditions on Wednesday, so, if anything, it might just be a bit dusty. We will head first south to Albuquerque and west to Petrified Forest National Park, all without a drop. It will be a beautiful drive, and undoubtedly a bit on the warm side.
DAY TWO (Thursday) If the desert heat doesn’t much bother you on Wednesday, I have a guess that it may on Thursday. We will drive through the heat of the Mohave (in fact, stopping in the town of Mohave for the night) after getting out of the higher terrain of Arizona. Low pressure is setting up a bit in the Rockies, so there could be some light wind, but really, it will be fairly tame as compared to what it usually is (it will be around 100). Your tires aren’t going to melt.
DAY THREE (Friday) The rise and fall of our drive through the Coastal Range will be the real climate winner for the day. Temperatures will drop to something more tolerable, chilly, even, when the wind is up. Monterey bay will be serene, and we will enjoy our time in Santa Cruz.
It’s a two day trek through the Plains between Jonesboro and Pueblo. We will cover 891 miles at a pace of a mere 61.1mph, of which very little wll e on the interstate. The first day will conclude after about 489 miles of motoring. This feels like a drive that should be done in an old pick up, doesn’t it?
DAY ONE (Thursday)
Jonesboro, Arkansas
I’ve recently been to Jonesboro, and it is a nice little town. It was a bit on the rainy side when I visited a few years ago, and it will be more of the same as we head out on Thursday morning. A bit of an upper level trough will help open up the Gulf, with moisture tracking through the lower Mississippi Valley. The northern terminus of rain shower activity will mirror our route. Showers will be off and on throughout the day, and we will reach the western edge of the rain fall activity by the end of the day, between Wichita and Hutchinson in the town of Haven.
DAY TWO (Friday) All of this activity is going to be swept up and way towards the Ohio Valley, and ready to spend the weekend in New England, where all precipitation spends it’s weekend. This will give us a lovely, unaffected drive through Kansas. A bit of a lee trough is going to start cycling some air as we approach Pueblo, but it won’t impact us in terms of precipitation, instead producing some orographic thunderstorms in Wyoming, near the Sand Hills of Nebraska. No problem in Pueblo!
There is a lot to be said about the tremendous change in geography from west to east in Colorado, but not enough is noted about the changes you see along the front range from north to south. Denver is a very different town from Pueblo, from the setting to the people. The weather is usually fairly dissimilar as well, and I’m sure it will be again this week.
At 1053PM, MT, Pueblo was reporting a temperature of 72 degrees with clear skies. While the pattern at the highest levels of the atmosphere was fairly unremarkable, the dry line is becoming active, and there was a bit of a curl to the flow over west Texas. This is helping focus todays and future storms around the dry line. There will be a westerly flow throughout the period over Colorado, which will result in some spotty showers over the Rockies, but the combination of moisture being restricted from the Gulf and the downsloping winds will render precipitation in Pueblo improbably, and sun and warm temperatures the more likely scenario for the next couple of days. Tomorrow – Sunny and warm, High 92, Low 57 Thursday – Sunny and hot, High 91, Low 56
TWC: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 91, Low 58 Thursday – Mostly sunny early. Scattered thunderstorms developing later in the day. High 90, Low 57
AW: Tomorrow – Times of clouds and sun High 92, Low 55 Thursday – Sun followed by some clouds and very warm, turning breezy in the afternoon with a thunderstorm around High 94, Low 56
NWS: Tomorrow – Sunny, High 91, Low 57 Thursday – A 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Mostly sunny, High 92, Low 57
WB: Tomorrow – Mostly sunny in the morning then becoming mostly cloudy. High 87, Low 62 Thursday – Partly sunny. A 20 percent chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. High 87, Low 61
WN: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy with showers, High 91, Low 58 Thursday – Partly cloudy with isolated storms High 92, Low 57
CLI: Tomorrow – Partly cloudy, high 91, Low 56 Thursday – Light rain showers, High 93, Low 58
Certainly some discrepancy in the rain forecasts. I’m standing by myself with this one, but I feel good. Maybe a few showers down by Trinidad, but I think Pueblo stays dry. Clouds are overshooting the Rockies this evening
