Question For Brett (or Other New Yorkers)

My new dedicated route takes me from central Indiana to Johnstown NY. What an I looking at as far as winter weather in that area? More specifically, am I correct to assume New York is pretty decent at snow removal on I-90? How about northern Ohio while I'll asking about it? I was really nervous about running west through the mountains, is what I got myself into better or worse?

I ran I 80 through Ohio all last winter they take that toll road pretty serious and take decent care of it and getting it cleaned off in snow I also love that truckers can shower free at all the travel oasis'

I ran I 80 through Ohio all last winter they take that toll road pretty serious and take decent care of it and getting it cleaned off in snow I also love that truckers can shower free at all the travel oasis'

Free showers?!? Do they have towels, or do you need your own?

Guess that doesn't matter....I take I70 to 71 north to I90...lol.

Well I can tell you that last year the folks in the northeast had to tunnel to their cars... LOL and meanwhile out here in the west we barely got any snow.

Well I can tell you that last year the folks in the northeast had to tunnel to their cars... LOL and meanwhile out here in the west we barely got any snow.

But it looks like this is an El Niño year, so that might be dramatically different this year. The leaves are turning early in Colorado.

Jay, I'm from Texas, but I drive through New York almost on a weekly basis. Sometimes it's New York City, (the Bronx area) other times I'm running through Upstate New York. In my opinion there simply is no other state that takes care of the snow covered roads in the winter like they do. They have the equipment, and they are out there on the sides of the roads with the plows waiting and ready to go even if there is just a hint of snow in the air. Now, they do get some heavy snow, especially up there around Buffalo (Lake Effect Snow).

Here's a look out from my windshield from last year. I'm parked at a receiver getting my flat-bed load taken off by a fork-lift operator. What you see is the area that I just finished an approximately 100 yard straight back into the covered shed where they are unloading me. Notice that you can not see the pavement or the curbs, you can't even see my tracks from where I just backed in! All this snow was on the customers property. Yet the roads were perfectly clean all the way up until I made my final turn into this customer's property.

The turnpikes are always great with snow removal. I-80 in Ohio and I-90 in New York do a great job. The biggest problem area you'll face is from Cleveland to at least the New York State line and possibly up past Buffalo. As you run along the Southern side of Lake Erie and into Buffalo you're driving through the heaviest part of the snowbelt on your route. I-90 in Ohio and Pennsylvania don't do nearly as good of a job as they do on the turnpikes.

Last winter we had two of the worst storms in our history. One storm dumped like 4 feet in two or three days. Go to Google and type in "snow storm Buffalo 2015" and click on the "images" tab and you won't believe the photos you'll see. It was so deep it almost literally buried houses. It did bury vehicles so deep you couldn't tell there was a vehicle under the snow. It was incredible.

So yeah, there's no sugarcoating the snow situation in Western New York. It's one of the worst snow regions in the country. Or one of the best. Depends on if you're a snowboarder or not.

Up until Lake Erie freezes you will have the possibility of large snowfalls from Cleveland to Johnston as the entire route lies within either the Lake Erie or Lake Ontario snowbelts. This means there will be snow, and it might be thick. There may be five to six feet of snow on the ground at the height of its coverage. This may affect you as the snow that's not removed can narrow areas you need to maneuver in. Of course, your biggest problems will be driving when it's snowing or just after a snowfall, as the roads may not be safe, or at least you will be moving slowly.

Expect that you will be delayed once or twice a month from Mid November to mid or late February (when Erie freezes) between Cleveland and Buffalo. You can also expect snow to delay you at the same frequency all the way to April from Buffalo to Johnston, as Lake Ontario rarely freezes enough to stop lake effect snowfall.