Yikes! high wind elk mountain I-80

I always feel a little better if there is a double ahead of me that I can watch his trailers and see how bad he is getting moved around...of course, I don't know how heavy he is loaded....but man, with two trailers, if he can stay upright, I think I might be able too.

If I was empty and it was a gusty wind, I would pull into a truck stop and park facing into the wind and get some sleep...and check the forecast. If it is a steady wind and is not going to let up for 10 hours, then see if I can change my route to go with the wind for a while or into it, so I could drive with less pucker stress.

Most of my driving is with a tanker, so I don't have to worry too much about the wind, but I also drive an old curtain trailer and that is nasty in the wind....fortunately it is a short trailer, so not sure if it would take me with it if it goes over.

One night on I-35 this summer I drove past a t/tlr laying on its side on the right shoulder and I was in the right lane....scared the crap out of me, as there were no lights on the rig and it was pitch black out...and there is no reflector tape on the dirty side of a rig........ my lights were on low beam, and they are a weak low beam at best....a little bit further and a 2nd rig was on its side in the ditch with a light on inside the trailer with the doors open. They must have cleaned it out and left the light on...sorta like Dave from the Motel 6 ads.

Right about then, there was a high wind warning sign on the side of the road....my tanker was loaded, so I just kept on rolling north.

 

Makes a lot of difference.

 

A buddy of mine got dumped over doing about 35 mph. I don't remember the exact wind speed he was dealing with, but it wasn't over 40 mph winds. It doesn't take much to tip a rig. The lighter the load the easier it is.

Slow it down when the wind is kicking up, and if it's pushing you around too much, park it. No load is worth your life.

 

I went through there today and saw both of those rigs pictured. It was a windy ride from Laramie all the way to Lyman. But it was a piece of cake compared to the ice and snow that came out of no where just before the Utah line.

I saw many, many wrecks (big trucks and 4wheelers) right before my eyes on the last Sister right before they shut it down. I literally descended the last sister at 2 mph and could not stop the rig if I would have needed to. Scariest moment I've had to date in a big truck. It took me almost 4 hours to get from the 20mm in WY, to the west side of Salt Lake City. 80 was shut down eastbound at the first sister and westbound was shut down at Parley's Summit. Had to take 84 15 and back to 80 to get around.

Good news is I made it through and I'm sitting in Wendover, bad news is I need to be in Redding Sunday night and the weather is supposed to be much worse at the CA line...

 

Looks like you're going to get snow and wind the entire trip... good luck!

 

There is no set "rule" regarding wind, about when to pull over, but you can check weather reports online. If winds or gusts are over 40-50 it may be time to get worried and maybe pull over depending on how much weight you have, road conditions, etc.

Of course weather reports can be wrong, and there are often "rogue" gusts, or microbursts, of wind that come out of nowhere.

And this can and does happen.

 

There's always bad weather, crappy roads between Cheyenne and Portland/Seattle. Slow down, give yourself a pile of distance between yourself and the next vehicle - a 1/4 mile isn't unreasonable! And feel the road with your butt. When you start feeling little "slips" through the seat of your pants - thats a tire breaking loose for a second - slow down more!