driving in strong wind

find out the weather.

2 weeks ago colorado and nebraska were putting wyoming to shame.

 

I have seen lite up signs wind advisory but never lite load not advised sign.In that case I would park it.Its always good to take signs seriously rather then just a suggestion.Because it could be your ### if something happens with load and equipment.Companies like to make accidents out to be the drivers fault.

 

YEA, go read that sign again. i bet it says ADVUSED NO LIGHT TRAILERS. not LOADS.

18k in your 12k box puts you at 30k. that's hardly light. in fact, that's almost half weight.

 

I believe a light load is considered less than 25k freight but with 50mph gusts I would be looking for a place to park where I can align with the wind direction. Trucks have been blown over while parked. As you get more experience you will be better able to judge the risk under various conditions but for now an abundance of caution is a good thing. Both sides of the Laramie Range can produce some butt puckering weather.

Snowy, you are misinformed. Wyoming is referring to the freight load not the combined weight. My truck with an empty trailer weighs about 34k and there is no way I am driving that in 50mph crosswinds.

 

i've never seen the sign say light loads. the sign has ALWAYS said light trailers.

even utah gives warning to light trailers. through wyoming.

 

I've parked it for a day with a 12-20k load when the winds were that high.
And every time I was glad I did, since there were always 1-3 trucks overturned on my route.
Most of them were not empty.

It is always better to be a little late and safe, than late forever.

 

I would consider 18K in 50 mph cross winds to be a hazard I wouldn't want to deal with. Better to park facing into or away from the wind and wait it out.

I use the wind map on weather.com frequently:

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype...collection=localwxforecast&presname=undefined

 

nice lepton. bookmarked to the phone.

 

Snowwy, it does say light trailers but is there really a difference. Having a light load would mean I have a light trailer doesn't it?

 

The winds are generally higher on Elk than they are on old Hwy-30. Lots of folks go around when they're light in order to be on time. You skip Elk altogether by doing that and it's not that much out of route.