Mid January Trip From MN to WA need advice

[hagennp]

Hi everyone,

I'm thinking of driving my car from MN to WA sometime mid january, and I was wondering if any of you have advice or tips as to what the road conditions were like on I-90 and I-94. Is this a doable feat or are the roads really treacherous? Let me know what you think.

[Foy]

......but that doesn't mean some care and forethought isn't wise.

Start with some frequent looks at the weather out in ND, MT, ID, and WA. Weather.com is fine. Once you know what's going on on a particular day, google the RWIS cameras (Roadway Weather Information System) for MT and ID. That will show you exactly what the passes and the valleys are looking like during the weather conditions you just observed on the weather map.

What you're likely to see is a full compliment of tractor-trailers, cars, pickups, campers, etc on the road every single day. Sure, it'll get crummy for a few hours to a half-day at a time, but only the most careless of travelers just drive into it blind. Take your smartphone, a wireless-enabled laptop, or stop at truck stops and rest areas and have a look ahead at weather and conditions using their hardware, and just plan to get off the highway for a while if a "Blue Norther" is headed your way.

Safe travels.

Foy

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

There's no way of knowing what the weather will be until you're just a couple days out, and can see an accurate forecast.

But all Interstates, including I-90/94 are the backbone of American Commerce and are used by thousands of people every day. The roads must be kept open as much as possible, and it is very rare for the road to be closed for more than a day.

But let me ask you this, are the roads in Minnesota treacherous in January? In many ways the answer is the same. If you've got a bad storm, you will see bad conditions. But if you let plow crews do their thing, things are back to normal relatively quickly.