Wyoming winds claims over a dozen trucks

I have a question ( Raises hand ).

How did the MVT truck get blown over on the driver side, yet he's still not even in the emergency lane, on the travel lane side of the highway?

 

Class dismissed. @Dave_in_AZ - report to the headmasters office.

 

More carnage in tomorrow's news. Laramie to Cheyenne posted at 30 today with gusts to 50 around noon. Supposed to get worse overnight.

I planned on stopping in Cheyenne, but turned back to Rawlins when I heard that report. Trailer too light to take the chance.

 

Mother Nature’s version of tractor tipping.

 

Thats horrible what drivers won't do to get that load delivered.It just isn't worth it.Hope they're all alright.

 

Makes me think of this. Don’t ask why.lol

 

There's always a transition period between these stages

• Not too bad and manageable
• kind bad in places and nerve racking
• too dam gusty and dangerous

So, I'm not ever going to pass judgment in these cases. When you pass that threshold at certain times, you're kinda going into an area that may or may not be a severe problem. In that area, max wind gusts can go from 30 mph to 50+ mph inside of an hour at times. MVT was stopped and parked off the shoulder. We could argue if he didn't park, he'd be out of the state by now, or, he did what he was supposed to do, parked and still got blowed over.

Rogue wind gusts can also occur and can not be dismissed. Wind is one of the few weather problems that sometimes you just have to deal with. NOT EVERY TIME because I also know that it can be extremely bad, and posted as such and some still head into it. But I have to give many of these blow-overs the benefit of the doubt, that they were just in a bad place at a bad time and were doing all they felt they could do. It happens. If you get caught in the open, you're stuck with few good options. A parked truck will blow over just as easy as a slow moving truck especially if you park in a bad spot.

 

I ran Wyoming last year, and before that ever week back in the 90's. Wyoming is rough and can be tricky. I ran it to Portland many times. Back in the day, when wind gusts reach a certain point. They would check to see how much you weighed before allowing the driver to proceed. If you were empty or light, you weren't allowed to travel.