Stormy Weather

[Debi]

According to what I just read, I-90 is currently measuring snow in feet, not inches, and the travel is dangerous.
It brought to mind all the really bad weather conditions I've driven in over the years!
What are some of the worst weather conditions you've been caught in? Share your stories!

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[garnetsilver]

I remember one winter when I was employed at the mall. I lived in the next town over and had about a twenty minute commute. When the weather forecast was for a blizzard, we all begged to be let off early so that we could drive home ahead of the storm, but we weren't allowed. So, it was after ten when the snow was well underway, when I finally started the drive home. Good advice I was given was in three points: Drive as if there were an egg under your gas pedal, and you don't want to break it. Try to keep behind a snow plow. Keep your speed very very slow. I made it home safely, and it took me two hours.

 

[ozentity]

When I was living out in Western NSW a tornado came through, which is very rare over here. My house was a barn type house with high pitched roof which saved me but the neighboring brick house blew down and they also lost huge sheds and silos. I hid under a table, it was very scary but I didn't lose any animals. It did destroy a lot of my new fencing though. it also blew down around 90% of the trees on the 20 acres but I looked at the good side, plenty of fire wood.

 

[Selectric]

Been through many storms here in the East but never a tornado as of yet. I did come close to a tornado when the deracho blew through here like a freight train on steroids. Driving work vans is the trickiest as they do not handle well in slippery conditions. Comical but a tad unnerving when i did a 180 and was sliding backwards down a road and could not stop till i hit a tiny tree in middle of the town boulevard. There were witnesses. They got a good laugh about it lol.

 

[Paulm]

tornados are the scariest. been through a couple low hurricanes and tropical storms, the coolest was probably a sand storm in the mohave desert. just a wall of sand coming across is a cool sight to see. amazing...until everything is covered and you get the grit in your teeth and a fine covering of sand over your body...lol........... been in a few big snow and ice storms but try to not be in too cold areas anymore...lol...mostly though its just heavy rain storms and flooding here

 

[Lynne]

Almost every winter we have at least one or two heavy snow days, it is always a challenge if you have to drive in it. Living in a northern state we are pretty used to it.

 

[Ragnar0711]

According to what I just read, I-90 is currently measuring snow in feet, not inches, and the travel is dangerous.
It brought to mind all the really bad weather conditions I've driven in over the years!
What are some of the worst weather conditions you've been caught in? Share your stories!
View attachment 66451​

That pix is literally what it looked like driving in West Virginia mountains, I believe it was 1993.

 

[Debi]

The most frightened I've ever been driving was hitting a wall of fog so thick I could not see beyond the hood of my car. And I was on I-65 up by Roselawn where it's all open fields and it was literally rolling across the road. I knew there were trucks all over that road and was terrified I couldn't see them and they sure as heck couldn't see me! Had my lights on, my hazards going, and tried to slowly inch over to the far right...which brought me right up to a truck that was doing the same. I got behind him and watched his lights and followed to the rest stop pullover. Sat there shaking for an hour. A very nice truck driver brought me coffee...lol I honestly couldn't get out of the car for a bit.

 

[crux]

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and we have what's called tule fog in the Winter. It's a very dense fog and, as you described, you can't see past the hood of your car. All you can do is pull over and stop and wait until it clears and hope nobody hits you. I've encountered that a number of times.

A similar experience happened to me once when I was driving back to LA from a business trip 300 miles to the north. A heavy windstorm moved in as I was driving through the San Joaquin Valley, which is all flat farm lands with nothing to block the wind. I was driving on the I-5 fwy when a huge, dense dust cloud suddenly moved onto the road and left me unable to see a thing while moving at 70 mph. It took me a minute to figure out I better stop because I could slam into another vehicle at any second. I did stop and waited until the cloud passed before continuing.

 

[Debi]

and hope nobody hits you

That was my biggest fear! Did I keep inching along and wait for someone to slam into me or should I try to find the side of the interstate and wait for a truck to slam me while parked there...I swear an angel must have led me over to those two lights that were suddenly in front of me. And that trucker (my coffee server!) was pretty shook up as well. I've done fog but this was the thickest stuff I've ever seen.

I've done tornadoes, hurricanes, 6 feet of snow, ridden on the back of a cop's snowmobile to the hospital to help out in a blizzard, battled a sandstorm and Deracho, but nothing comes close to that particular foggy drive.