Avoiding blow overs
I live in an area with industrial wind turbines so I am very use to towing in windy conditions. 30-40 mph gusts are common and still not a big deal. Thursday we were on a north south interstate when ...
Forum Discussion
1320Fastback wrote:profdant139 wrote:
I just learned something -- in a bad crosswind, I guess it does not make much difference if you are moving or not -- you could still get blown over. Is that right? I would have thought that pulling over was the right move, but I guess not?
You would want to point the nose of the trailer into the wind as much as possible. Its not the forward momentum thats saving you from going over.
Exactly.
Pilots deal with this a lot (not the blowing over part, that's a totally different issue) but wind speed differentials.
For example you could be flying a plane and not move forward a single inch, theoretically. Just the difference of airspeed vs ground speed. The same applies to everything though, except forward momentum on a trailer won't net an impact on a 50mph crosswind. That'll impact the trailer as 50mph regardless of fwd, backward, up/down movement.
Sounds like OP has more experience than most everyone on the forum regarding winds! That was great you were able to find an area to face the winds, that was the only thing I was thinking while reading your post and you did it..
Perhaps preparedness in general is the only thing I could think to comment on in the future. On long trips I have a few different weather apps and a really good radar app with overlays for all severe weather, watches, warnings, etc. I check the storm vector against the roads I'm heading towards and generally know when I'll get hit, even an hour ahead of time (storm speed vs. my speed you can guestimate where you'll hit) tapping the storm gives you real-time info on wind gusts and other hazards such as visibility and hail, etc.
I generally know when severe wx is possible and will be monitoring, but you can set up alerts as well in case you're driving in the clear on autopilot not expecting anything.
Just nit-picking though, OP did a great job keeping his $hit together in a stressful situation and doing what he could as soon as he could. Plenty of videos of trailers getting blown over!
PS: 1320Fastback that's a beautiful rig :o Only other time I've seen a clean vintage cummins was in Saratoga CA probably 8yr ago. Must be a west-coast thing!
