Veterans, I need your help in regards to Wyoming, wind speeds and DOT saying shut it down

hammer down. theres no better feeling. then the steering wheel jerking out of your hands as that wind gust hits you. here you are day dreaming. then the wind gust hits you. such a rush

 

I was out one day 55 mph sustained gusting to 70 mph.
I pull hopper bottom, not as tall as a dry van. I got around fine that day, but i saw over a dozen dry vans that day blown over.
Another time I was north of Casper,WY pulling a dry van. I had over 42,000 lbs in the box. I think the winds were breaking 50 mph, I was doing okay but it was getting testy so I called it a day a few hours early. I parked facing the wind just in case. The next morning there was a class A motor home, bus style, blown on it's side on the highway.

Your loads centre of gravity is a factor too. 44,000 lbs of peat moss stacked to the roof will blow over easier than 44,000 lbs of zinc ingots laying on the floor no more than 16" high.

 

You're the high profile vehicle as a 18 wheeler with say a reefer or van trailer. Pray that you are loaded properly. 80000 pounds.

My personal wind limit is 60 the same as the CBBT in Norfolk VA, a 30 mile toll bridge that literally goes to the ocean crossing of the VA Capes towards the Md Tidewater. IF you were not loaded max you will be told to camp here and wait until the winds die down.

As a empty Mack with a 40 foot container on the Maryland US 50 Westbound span of the Bay Bridge at the top the storm winds blasted my whole rig against the railing held it there and started tipping me over. The water below is 230 some odd feet not survivable if the whole thing went over with you in it. That was why I was on the fuel tank and braced waiting for her to go ahead and go over I would jump or in this case fall down. But that mack and container came pounding down onto all her wheels and for that I am grateful.

I do not drive very big RV's in the Auction house that was a skill set for me to put the large three axle RV's that are like 50 foot into the sale line. Driving these is just the same as driving a house which is what it is.

If I have a covered wagon spread axle with a midroof volvo and hauling specifically railroad car axles for Slope PA where they have shops east of the Horseshoe Curve so that the railroad shops can install the wheels on the freightcars that need new axles etc. These kinds of load come out to 52000 ish onto my deck and not very high at all. That means my center of gravity is very very very low I laugh at the strong winds.

Anything over 50 I simply find a truckstop, send a appointment time late due to NOAA warned storm region etc that we are now in waiting for the storm to pass. That will be awhile. I usually do not get flak or get shot up with a bad dispatcher demanding I move now.

Sure, you bet. You come out here and drive it now. Bottom line it's very stupid. Safety first. One dispatcher rages I told him stop that noise if she gets good and stuck inside a 5 foot plowed drift its going to close you a few thousand to get it out.

Usually I wait until good weather before moving out. Everything at that point is documentation. Names, dates, times, messages to and from whom and weather situation per NOAA.

There is I think in all of us a requirement that we must endure a nightmare. no Nightmare is too soft a word. Let's try Night terror. Much better.

This was in Akron OH where 3 truckstops congregate. A old speedway, a 76 and a TA and I think maybe even a pilot on the two routes junction at that location. I know that spot as Seville but this is splitting hairs.

Dispatch was cheerful late in that evening, go camp out, get rested and call us ready to roll. I was pretty tired so getting rested is music to my ears.

At 8:30 or so PM NOAA fired up a special EAS tornado warning. Every 20 minutes they fired up another warning with EAS. Then went quiet. Oh good time for dinner.

Went to bed and all of a sudden the truck I was in plus the row that we were in all were leaning very badly, vicious artillery lightning hitting pretty much inside the property combined with a howling of EAS on the radio. Tornadoes walked the earth that night. I think it was 9 missed us by a few miles to the north and about 8 missed us to the south. By then the radio pretty much cleared the interstate up and were seeing what can be done with that tanker loaded with liquid boom boom to get them parked.

Three am. A pause. fell out of the bunk when they threw on not the regular EAS but now a special tune for a lack of a better word for it and started labeling each one a Tornado Emergency.

The storms did not fritter away until sunrise. Called into dispatch. They asked me full of sunshine did I get a good nights sleep? Hay-ul no. Turn on your cable see where we had tornadoes all over us here?

They gave me 50 dollars for my trouble and this time call in the next am. And boy was I ready to go.

There would be many other storms in my lifetime but nothing that burned into my brain in ferocity as this one did.

 

o / p i am at my rcvr and on my phone and have fat hands but was reading and want to share this with you. sorry i cant shift on this phone . here is my wind speed rule pack .

 

Wyoming doesn't have a number for that. I asked a dot officer once, and he explained it was more a legal statement covering the state from the cost of clearing wrecks. You crash while the warnings are up, all the costs of clean up are on you ( your ins co anyway ) as you were ignoring safety warnings.

I used to drive that way a lot, its certainly windy a lot of the time, and the state isnt frightened to turn on the signs, but personally I never sat it out on the 80 unless the road was closed for wind and that is not very often. I25 always felt worse to me as it's mostly side winds buffeting you around.

I'd suggest you try to make your own decisions, dont rely on the gaggle of trucks in the truck stop all trying to convince each other that sitting it out is the right thing. You have all the info you need on your phone, and only you know your level of comfort.

As you cover a few more months you should be able to improve your judgement and raise your comfort level, and you'll need to as gets worse as the weather deteriorates!

Theres always cutting across the i70 as a possible option depending on your destination.

If all else fails, theres never much wind on the east coast and loads of hiring companies there too.

 

Even if the warnings aren't up, take it easy on 25 heading south out of Cheyenne. For some reason that stretch always catches a few drivers on a windy day.

 

Oops.

 

When in doubt, shut it down. I've driven across that stretch with sustained 50 mph winds and had no trouble at all. And I've had days with no warnings up at all and the winds kick up for no good reason and trucks start falling over. I passed close to 20 rolled over trucks one morning about 3 years ago and I hardly noticed a thing driving in my truck. RV's and campers are the ones that really need to watch out. They always get blown over. If you're empty or under 20K pounds in the box and it's windy, just park it.

 

Ok, that one went right over my head. Huh?

 

Wrong thread lol.