Worst winds you've encountered

[SageTrek]

Originally Posted by tpaul

Consistently I 80 Wyoming. Especially around Elk Mountain. Last year with the trailer had 65 mph gusts. Closed to high profile vehicles. Last November with just the Yukon, 70-75 mph gusts and again closed to high profile vehicles. Got to the Wagonhound rest area at the top of a hill and could barely stand up against the wind.

So far, if I'm counting right, Wyoming has the most votes (not surprisingly), as we've seen Semis blown over near Cody. Thankfully I was in an 80's Ford Thunderbird at the time.

[pddgm]

This fall when we were coming south on I 55 out of Missouri into Ark, the wind was blowing so hard, I thought I was have transmission problems, Truck seemed to want to just stop. And another time (non camper related) we were workcamping in North Dakota and were riding our motorcycle to town, and a gust of wind came up out of a gully and blew us completely off the road on the shoulder. Lucky we were able to maintain control...

[The Taj]

Are there any easy ways to predict wind on your route besides just looking up weak?

[move on]

We got hit by a tornado while asleep inside a travel trailer. Scary situation to wake up to. We were alerted by our cell phone emergency alert system that a tornado touched down about a mile away. No time to do anything and nothing you could do except brace yourself against the walls as the trailer rocked violently and you hope it doesn't flip over or blow away. Fortunately it was on the lower end of the tornado scale and all we lost was the awning. About a week later we saw a news story of an RV park that got hit by an EF-3. It was total destruction with much loss of life.

[kdauto]

5 years ago 1-1/2 days of wind between Oklahoma City and Santa Fe,NM. Wind was mostly direct headwind and some side gusts maybe 15-20degrees off side. Fuel economy SUCKED! Big rigs were telling us they were averaging 3.2 to 4.0MPG. We were getting a measly 7.3 or so. We clocked out early at a Love's and slept through th worst of it.

Same trip 3 weeks later, highway 101 somewhere between Paso Robles and Pismo Beach if memory serves me, hurricane force winds and most of it from the side. Our truck and trailer are decently heavy and stable, feels like most of the center of gravity is low for thses type rigs. I felt pretty safe until I saw a few tractor trailers wanting to drive on half their wheels just ahead on a mountain pass. We stopped at the next rest area and the state trooper that was there authorized us to sleep the entire night. It simply was unsafe to keep driving. A bunch of semi trucks had done the same and all the spots, lanes and even grassy areas had been taken up all night.

[F4Gary]

Originally Posted by LAKnox

[Moderator Edit] were you "driving"?! :-) I do know someone who flew a DC-8 that was making about 850 mph ground speed. We flew a mid-50's vintage V-35 from PHX to DEN 48 years ago and were making 80-90 mph ground speed. Ouch!

Lyle

MD-80 or 757, don't remember which.

[rarebear.nm]

Not me, but my dad flew sometimes as navigator on a B-29 in the western Pacific in WW II. On one mission he pointed out to the the pilot they had been sitting over the same island for about 20 minutes. Changed headings and got somewhere.

[Dakotah]

I was in Des Moine Iowa a couple years ago when a derecho hit. Winds estimated at 140 mph. Semi trucks flipped all over I 35. They aren’t common, but very scary. I was in my car and it was rocking as I waited it out in a parking lot. Can’t imagine pulling a trailer when it hit.

[JJColorado]

Back in the 90s, my wife and I picked up our first camper in Anchorage and drove it home to Fairbanks, AK. It was an older Mitchell slide in camper that worked well with my 3/4 ton Chevy with 8' bed. On the way back to Fairbanks, which was a six hour drive, we ended up driving straight into a ferocious winter storm. I don't know what they winds were but many times I could feel the front tires lifting up and I had little steering input. I was terrified of the cross winds because I knew I had a very deep gorge bridge to cross outside of Denali National Park. I didn't want to drive over the bridge but I did and was so thankful went I cleared it. It snowed about six inches on the way back. What a way to start my camper experiences.

I-25 south of Pueblo, CO to NM border is always rough in wind storms. I saw a modular home section sitting upright completely on the other side of the guardrail after the wind picked it up and set it back down on the trailer tires. This was near Comanche Pass on I-25.

[hclarkx]

I-25 in Wyoming. Cross wind at 90 degrees. Couldn't believe the angle of the fiver. Had to turn into the wind a lot to stay on the road. Couldn't find a left turn to turn it into a headwind. Scary. DW didn't realize how close we were to going over or we might not own a fiver now. Since then I watch the wind predictions more than the rain and temperature.

[Fiesta48]

Ok if you want to talk about tail winds I flew my own plane from Sedona to El Paso in 2.5 hours. It's over a 8 hour drive and normally a 4.5 hour flight. My plane only cruised at 80-90 mph. It's 400 miles straight line.

[Fiesta48]

I always check "Windy or Windfinder" before I go. Head winds over 15 is a no go. Cross winds over 20 is a maybe. Tailwinds any speed, is go now!
Had a friend drive 1000 miles into 25+ headwind. Got 4 mpg the entire trip.

[MtCamper]

Browning Montana. We had a VW high top van at that time and had to turn into a cross wind while crossing a railroad overpass. The turn was so great that the front tires were hopping on the pavement. We got across and turned 90˚ into the wind and waited. Empty rail cars got blown off the tracks that day. Now when we see semi trucks blown into the ditch, we park for a while.

[RangeMaggotBob]

Wyoming. Miserable. HOT and WINDY all the time- except winter. Miserable. COLD and WINDY. Horrible in the middle of summer and horrible in the middle of winter. God I miss that place...

can't wait to go back.