I-40 in New Mexico, Arizona and California

This was originally posted by member Howard in December, 2008: (lost and restored by Mark Sedenquist)

I just want to add a little to what Tim and Michael have already pointed out.

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Originally Posted by Mass Tim
The first leg of this trip is in areas that are prone to seeing snow, etc. You may be limited in your choice of camping until into Texas. Even then, the route that 66 took still hits some higher elevations prone to snowfall.
Route 66 follows the same path as I-40 most of the way across Arizona and New Mexico, at elevations above 5000’ most of the way, and a bit over 7000’ at several points.

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http://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog/...-40profile.jpg

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Originally Posted by Midwest Michael
Even though you'll be farther south, you'll still need to expect cold temperatures (especially at night) and you'll need winter camping gear even in places like Oklahoma and Texas. It wouldn't be at all surprising to see some snow or ice at some point of your trip.

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Michael is right, you’ll definitely need winter camping gear. It can get very cold at night in northern NM and AZ, especially at the higher elevations. Here’s a map showing average annual snowfall in the US.

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog/...mapfromCCC.gif
Copyright: Colorado Climate Center, Colorado State University

Thanks for reposting this, Mark. I did this trip last year, mid-May through mid-June, 2009, and while the daylight hours were lovely, there was unbelievable wind in many locations, and the temperature dropped to 40 degrees several nights, particularly in Williams, Arizona and at the Grand Canyon. I was glad I opted for a lovely mom-and-pop motel rather than camping in my tent.

I plan to do it again this year to see what I missed last time. So much to do, so little time!

From the National Weather Service

Oct. 7, 2010 NWS Western Region HQ
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...0westHQWX4.png

Oct. 7, 2010 NWS Flagstaff AZ Home
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...tafffreeze.png

Oct. 7, 2010 Flagstaff 7day forecast
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...ayforecast.png

Oct. 7, 2010 Grand Canyon NP 7day forecast
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...Canyon7day.png

Oct. 7, 2010 Grand Canyon NP freeze warning
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/m...ezewarning.png

Hi Mark:

I love the elevation map for route 40 .. it certainly tells me what to avoid in the WINTER...

Where did you find this ... can you post one for route 10?

Thank you,
Lola

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Originally Posted by Mark Sedenquist

This was originally posted by member Howard in December, 2008: (lost and restored by Mark Sedenquist)

I just want to add a little to what Tim and Michael have already pointed out.



http://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog/...-40profile.jpg


Michael is right, you’ll definitely need winter camping gear. It can get very cold at night in northern NM and AZ, especially at the higher elevations. Here’s a map showing average annual snowfall in the US.

http://www.roadtripamerica.com/blog/...mapfromCCC.gif
Copyright: Colorado Climate Center, Colorado State University

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On the 15th of December, RTA will be launching a mapping and road trip planning tool that we hope you and a few thousand more road trippers will find helpful. One of the planned (near-future) features of this new trip planning suite of tools will be the capability of creating a visual depiction of the elevation grades of any highway found in Canada and the USA. We're hoping to have that feature operational by then end of January - but it might be sooner.

Mark