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thefishingal's avatar
thefishingal
Explorer
Jan 23, 2014

Louisiana to Seattle, WA in March

Headed to Seattle in March and am concerned about towing the RV through a lot of snow. Anyone made this trip? Any advice would so much be appreciated. Not sure if we should go up through CO or head up the coast of CA. Thanks in advance for any help.

18 Replies

  • Look at the web cams for state dot's along your route(s). That will show you where snow is beside the road, or in rare locations on the road itself. They also post weather and road condition warnings. All use 511 as well.

    Areas that are most likely to have weather warnings are:
    - I40 around Flagstaff
    - Tehachapee Pass (58?) in Calif
    - I5 CA central valley (heavy fog)
    - I5 CA/OR border
    - I84 on UT/ID border
    - I84 in NW OR
    - I84 approaching Portland (high winds and ice are possible)
    - US101 coast (heavy rain and landslides)
    - I90 approaching Seattle (snow)

    Any roadway close to freezing can have ice. That's more deadly than snow. Usually you can sit out snow on the passes. Unless there's an active storm, crossing a pass midday is best, since it will be warmest, and the pavement is most likely bare and dry.
  • I would angle up through Salt Lake City area and then catch I-84 to Umatilla Oregon then I-82 to I 90.
  • I've run into snow in southern OR in April although it is usually light. March in the Rockies is usually very snowy so CA is probably your best bet. I don't carry chains so I prefer to avoid snow when RVing.
  • So our best bet to not have to deal with too much snow would be through CA? A little longer trip should not be a big deal. Just dont want to get in the snow and get stuck or whatever else happens where there is a lot of it.
    Thanks again!
  • thefishingal wrote:
    Is there snow that time of year in the Oregon area?


    Only at the Siskiyou pass, south Oregon on I-5 you MIGHT get some depending on the day, but I-10 to Calf and up I-5 would keep you out of snow. Much longer though. The rest of the way will be clear. We don't live in Alaska up here ya know.

    I will be going the other way one month later than you.
  • March in the Siskiyous is not a big deal. There might be some snow on the side of the road, but so far this winter has been very dry, so conditions have been really good. When you get parked for the night before Redding you can always go to Tripcheck Oregon and look at the road cams across the mountains.
  • Just stay to the south as far as CA. You can take I-5 through CA until north of Sacramento where you might want to cut over to 101 on the coast (I take SR 20, from Williams) to avoid the Siskiyous. If you'd prefer not to go through Portland (like me), stay on 101 all the way to Astoria, OR, then take US30 to the Longview-Rainier Bridge over to WA and pick up I-5 there. Alternatively, you can cross over at Astoria and take SR4 to I-5.