Seattle -> Baltimore mid December

We'll we're on the road - beautiful snow everywhere, also on the road unfortunately. Some icy spots, some fresh snow, I-82 Umatilla bridge was closed in the morning had to go via Pasco on the Oregon side to Umatilla, when we finally arrived in Umatilla the bridge was open again.
We're now in Ontario,OR and will try to get past Ogden tomorrow depending on the weather we might get to Evanston. Anyone out there who was on the road in that area ?
How about Cheyenne to Denver ? Or Denver to Kansas City ?
Reports on I80 are also welcome.
Even suggestions to go past Denver down to I-40 and then taking a sharp left turn to Baltimore are welcome.
Average speed today was around 40 mph - there were others driving much faster e.g. trucks and we saw a couple of turned over pickups in the Yakima Posser area, probably due to strong winds and too much speed.

Hopefully, you will be checking this thread in the morning.

Don't know how to put it any nicer, but you're screwed. Tuesday, you are looking at snow falling out of the sky all the way from where you are to somewhere in Indiana, no matter which way you go. South of about Kansas City, it's an icy mix. I've got a layer of ice on the ground here right now, with snow coming down on top of it, and it's about 15 degrees.

Go to weather.com, click on maps, then weather details, then weekly planner. Not looking good, my friend. I'd grit it out and take 84 to 80 and see how far you get. Wednesday is supposed to be a lot better.

Thanks glc,

how about I40 ? Would that be an option then or is it snowing /thawing there too ? Any takers for live view in that area of the country ?

We'll head to Ogden /Evaston today we'll hit the road in the next few minutes.
I'll check this thread tonight again, keep posting.

Thank you all.

How are the driving conditions in Kansas ? Not recommended to be on the road ? I don't mind driving through snow - at least I prefer it over black ice.

Things are changing. The storm has moved east very quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if you make it a lot farther than Evanston today. The outlook right now favors 80 through Nebraska slightly, which is the most direct route anyway. I'd plan on taking the NE-2/I-29 route down to KC and picking up 70 there, that's looking like a better bet than dealing with Chicago. Going all the way down to I-40 is so far out of the way that it wouldn't make any sense at all.

Let us know where you are tonight and we can update the outlook accordingly!

Ontario, Or to Evanston is a rather short drive (by my standards). Try to get to Rawlins (around mm200) in Wyoming.

And when you start in the morning, try and get out of Wyoming asap, the area just east of Rawlins is prone to high winds/snow and probably the most dangerous stretch of I-80 in Wyoming (mostly for the westbound traffic, moreso than the eastbound due to WB being downhill).

Hope all goes well.

Sykotyk

That shouldn't be a problem now - the surface map and the radar show that the western edge of precip is already around the NE/IA line. It's clearing out fast.

Hi,

thanks for the updates.
Right now I'm in Ogden filling up the tank.
The road conditions where much better than anticipated, only few spots which were pretty bad, in that particular area we had 4 accidents one with helicopter coming in.
By my standards driving 600 miles a day is normal but not under these weather conditions.

We'll probably pass Evanston and hit the next Best Western after that. I'll try to find out how the weather looks like in the pass. But should be Ok - can't be as worse as it was in the Umatilla region.

Here are a few pictures more to come.

Hi BrummBrumm, Looking at some of those pics perhaps you should shorten your name to Brrr Brrr ! [As in It's cold]

Thanks for the updates. The roads in Ontario OR looked quite a challenge !

Love the picture of the Space needle. Looking forward to more.

Have a safe journey Dave.

We're planning the trip for tomorrow, currently we're in cosy Rock Springs "Outlaw Inn" it's cold outside, last reading on my car was 10 F. Let's see fow far we get on I-80 tomorrow, we're planning to leave latest at 7 am.