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Road condition in Arizona during winter
Hi the
I plan to make a road trip from Los Angeles, California to Albuquerque, New Mexico using I-40 around end of December/early January. Could you tell me how is the road condition across Arizona at that time of the year? I am concern about wintery road condition. Is it as bad as the Sierra-Nevada on I-80? Thanks a bunch. |
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"I12ask" wrote in message ... Hi the I plan to make a road trip from Los Angeles, California to Albuquerque, New Mexico using I-40 around end of December/early January. Could you tell me how is the road condition across Arizona at that time of the year? I am concern about wintery road condition. Is it as bad as the Sierra-Nevada on I-80? It depends on when the weather fronts are coming across. I-40 is usually open because it's a major trucking route, but it does have sections closed in winter for a few hours at the time when the plows can't keep up with snow fall, mostly between Kingman and Flagstaff. http://www.w3.weather.com/index.html? This gives you details that are up to date every hour or so. Tom J |
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It clearly is not as bad as I-80 on average. That said there will be a
few occasions where it will be very bad. Simply pay attention to the forecasts and stop if things are deteriorating. Moving south to I-10 will get you an even better average but again there will be occasions where even this is bad for a while. I12ask wrote: Hi the I plan to make a road trip from Los Angeles, California to Albuquerque, New Mexico using I-40 around end of December/early January. Could you tell me how is the road condition across Arizona at that time of the year? I am concern about wintery road condition. Is it as bad as the Sierra-Nevada on I-80? Thanks a bunch. |
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I plan to make a road trip from Los Angeles, California to Albuquerque, New
Mexico using I-40 around end of December/early January. Could you tell me how is the road condition across Arizona at that time of the year? Is it as bad as the Sierra-Nevada on I-80? It can get ooky, but mostly when a weather front is coming through. This is usually predictable enough to handle by timing if you build a day of schedule contingency into the trip. Once the front has gone through they re-open the road pretty quickly. It usually doesn't get as bad or stay as bad on I-40 as during a big dumping of "Sierra Cement" on I-80. There's just less water in the air by the time everything gets that far inland. Flagstaff averages about 100 inches of snow a year, whereas Donner Summit, say, gets 400. Somehow the bad area on I-80 through the Sierra always strikes me as being longer and worse, too. When planning your trip, remember that the Continental Divide between Gallup and Grants can briefly get serious winter weather too. If it looks bad and your schedule doesn't allow you to wait it out, consider I-10 to I-25 as an alternative. It's a few hundred miles longer but chances are that any weather bringing snow to Flag is bringing rain to that area or missing it clean. All in all, though, it's nothing to be afraid of. Make sure your car is in good shape, including all season tires with plenty of tread left -- this is no time and place to get the last thousand miles out of old baldies nor to use radical dry-road performance rubber. Carry warm clothes, a strong flashlight, and some food and water. And above all, drive prudently. I've driven around that part of the country in all conditions, and have seen a lot of wrecks -- pretty much all of them looking like they were caused by either foolish combinations of speed and inattention, or falling asleep at the wheel. (Again, a big part of prudence on a long trip is the safe driver's magic trick -- turning into a motel.) Doing something deeply foolish in the proximity of a big-rig is another classic. Of course, the bottle doesn't help any of these circumstances. And *not* all of the accidents occurred in snow. People figure out how to wad up their cars under perfectly fine conditions, and I-40 is no exception to this rule. But I assume we're preaching to the choir here, so... time it for decent weather (which is most of the time even over the top), take it steady and easy, and enjoy some of America's most beautiful country. Cheers, --Joe |
#6
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On Sat, 20 Nov 2004 23:07:26 -0500, "Tom J"
wrote: "I12ask" wrote in message ... Hi the I plan to make a road trip from Los Angeles, California to Albuquerque, New Mexico using I-40 around end of December/early January. Could you tell me how is the road condition across Arizona at that time of the year? I am concern about wintery road condition. Is it as bad as the Sierra-Nevada on I-80? It depends on when the weather fronts are coming across. I-40 is usually open because it's a major trucking route, but it does have sections closed in winter for a few hours at the time when the plows can't keep up with snow fall, mostly between Kingman and Flagstaff. And, from time to time, for a few days at a time. But that's pretty rare. ************* DAVE HATUNEN ) ************* * Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow * * My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps * |
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