Bad Weather

So far as a new driver with about 6 months behind the wheel ive only dealt with a handful of bad weather and each was different for the most part. Ive dealt with heavy fog, heavy rain and thunder storms with high winds. Snow and white outs. Blinding rain. Its crazy some of the stuff we drive through. The one time i thought it was going to be the end of the story for me. It got cloudy... no problem. Then all of a sudden high winds, fog and rain. I was scared but did my best not to panic. How do you guys keep up with the weather? I dont imagine you check every state you're going to be driving through. What do you do if you think you see a tornado. Pull over and hide under the blankets? Haha seriously? Have you ever been through a tornado/hurricane? Or whats the worst weather you've been through?

I do realize you have to know when to pull off the road but sometimes bad weather sneaks up on you. It goes from slight rain to pouring with winds gusts for example.

This is something I'm curious about, as well. Talk about nerves of steel...

I've been parked when tornados came thru an area. I was parked just across the state line in Wisconsin from Iowa at the rest area off of us-151. The whole of NE Iowa was under tornado warnings. One had touched down about 10 miles south of where I was. I had put my landing gear on my trailer down, sat back, relaxed, and waited to see what happened.

Since nothing I could of done would of changed any likely outcomes, I just let nature take its course.

Since nothing I could of done would of changed any likely outcomes, I just let nature take its course.

Brother, I grew up in the inner city, and since childhood was pretty much the sole definition of poverty, I've seen and been in some real interesting situations. But I can safely assure you that if I had to sit helpless within eyesight of a tornado, Nature Taking It's Course would quite aptly describe my shorts at that moment, lol.

Had a wall cloud come right over me. Almost flipped my trailer (passenger side tires came off the ground).

Park alongside a building if you can. If not, park at a 90 degree angle with the truck facing against the wind.

Significant wind event in the Owens Valley, US RT-395 running southbound through Bishop CA.

Beautiful area, was on the road several times very early in my career. Enjoyed driving through the valley just east of the Sierras. Very high wind was the issue this day. This particular trip I watched 3 rigs blow over on the northbound lane as I travelled south.. Even though I had 45,000 pounds of paper, the trailer was getting very squirrelly, even at low speeds. I found a wide, safe area and parked on the side of the road, dropped the gear, and turned the tractor 90 degrees to the trailer. When I was outside I could barely walk back to the cab. The truck rocked, at times violently like a ship pitching on rough seas. I just sat there...feeling rather helpless. Never experienced anything like this, ever.

CHIP checked on me and suggested I stay put until they come back through. After about 4 hours of waiting, it was safe enough to exit, do a quick check of the truck. About a half to inch of sand and dirt had accumulated around where I was parked, including the wheel wells and many other places.

As I drove south at about 35mph, the highway was littered with at least a dozen rigs on their sides. Emergency vehicles everywhere. Scary and very humbling.

It was my last run ever on that highway because the following week I was starting my new assignment running Walmart Dedicated. Unforgettable.

Since nothing I could of done would of changed any likely outcomes, I just let nature take its course.

Brother, I grew up in the inner city, and since childhood was pretty much the sole definition of poverty, I've seen and been in some real interesting situations. But I can safely assure you that if I had to sit helpless within eyesight of a tornado, Nature Taking It's Course would quite aptly describe my shorts at that moment, lol.

My stoicism is a learned trait. On more than one combat deployment I have had to endure nightly indirect fire attacks. You learn to take a lot with a huge grain of salt, lol

Significant wind event in the Owens Valley, US RT-395 running southbound through Bishop CA.

Beautiful area, was on the road several times very early in my career. Enjoyed driving through the valley just east of the Sierras. Very high wind was the issue this day. This particular trip I watched 3 rigs blow over on the northbound lane as I travelled south.. Even though I had 45,000 pounds of paper, the trailer was getting very squirrelly, even at low speeds. I found a wide, safe area and parked on the side of the road, dropped the gear, and turned the tractor 90 degrees to the trailer. When I was outside I could barely walk back to the cab. The truck rocked, at times violently like a ship pitching on rough seas. I just sat there...feeling rather helpless. Never experienced anything like this, ever.

CHIP checked on me and suggested I stay put until they come back through. After about 4 hours of waiting, it was safe enough to exit, do a quick check of the truck. About a half to inch of sand and dirt had accumulated around where I was parked, including the wheel wells and many other places.

As I drove south at about 35mph, the highway was littered with at least a dozen rigs on their sides. Emergency vehicles everywhere. Scary and very humbling.

It was my last run ever on that highway because the following week I was starting my new assignment running Walmart Dedicated. Unforgettable.

Wow G-Town!

A lot of things are simply, Right There, in front of you, like snow, rain, even storms.... wind, a whole different ball of wax. You can't see it, you can't smell it, you can only see the damage it's causing and then tuck tail and run. :)

I'm glad you clarified some on, ' parked at a 90 degree angle '. I wasn't sure what was being said.

What I do is stay tuned to the weather. 1) My CB has weather band, and alerts. 2) Road dog trucking has weather updates 3) for the state I'm driving in, I look at the 511app.

If it gets too bad, I just shut down until conditions improve. (Just had to shut down on Wednesday, due to the snow in Iowa. 35n was a fuster cluck, until I got to 90. )