Would you drive in the snow?

[holstein13]

I am supposed to travel to Panguitch, UT tomorrow to stay at the KOA there. Unfortunately, they are expecting 1-3 inches of snow. It looks like temperatures will be above freezing most of the day.

I'm driving a 45 foot, tag axle motorhome weighing 45,000 pounds and towing a 6,500 pound Ford F-150 behind me. My route would take me across I-70 and down SR 89.

The question is, should I chance it? Or should I wait until Saturday to travel? Has anyone driven in the snow when temps are above freezing?

[Goldencrazy]

When the temps are near freezing you will get salt. The roads will be wet and the salt will spray. Driving will be fine but you will be cleaning salt off as soon as possible. Watch for the spray on trucks or other large vehicles. If they stop spraying it is freezing and you need to stop soon. With salt you will be fine down to about 18 degrees. All of this assumes the roads were clean initially and not snow packed.

[malexander]

dave17352 wrote:

malexander wrote:
I live in Oklahoma. It may be perfectly clear and 70*, 5 mins later, 0 & snowing/sleeting. I'll keep driving, been doing it for 41 years without a problem. I just worry about the other guy The trick is, don't do anything sudden, stay AHEAD of the vehicle.

Ok now that's pushing it a little. I have lived there also. The weather does change pretty darn quick!! But...

OK, lol. BUT, I tell everyone we can have all 4 seasons in the same week.

[Cbones]

hipower wrote:
I've done the winter driving thing as needed in the past and would do so as required in the future. Growing up in Western PA I've had significant experience with winter conditions and spent many years as a commercial driver also.

Since retirement we don't have any tight schedules and are far more flexible than before and would chose not to travel in poor weather. It's nice to be flexible with our plans and we spend winters where no one knows what a snow shovel is for or how to use one.

My biggest concern today would be as mentioned by many previous posters, the snow melting chemicals impact on my coach. The salt brine many states use today is even harder on vehicles that the plain old salt they used for many years. It corrodes things badly and very quickly. I'm not sure you can get it off quick enough to avoid at least some rusting from its effects. Simply nasty stuff and none of the states that use it seem to care how much vehicle damage they cause.

It is not even that washing it down will get the salt off. It will get into spots on your motorhome that there is no way of getting it out of. Trust me I just went through almost $10,000 worth of rust repair. These coaches don't even come close to being built like a car as far as rust prevention. The salt just eats through it like bad cancer.

[hipower]

I've done the winter driving thing as needed in the past and would do so as required in the future. Growing up in Western PA I've had significant experience with winter conditions and spent many years as a commercial driver also.

Since retirement we don't have any tight schedules and are far more flexible than before and would chose not to travel in poor weather. It's nice to be flexible with our plans and we spend winters where no one knows what a snow shovel is for or how to use one.

My biggest concern today would be as mentioned by many previous posters, the snow melting chemicals impact on my coach. The salt brine many states use today is even harder on vehicles that the plain old salt they used for many years. It corrodes things badly and very quickly. I'm not sure you can get it off quick enough to avoid at least some rusting from its effects. Simply nasty stuff and none of the states that use it seem to care how much vehicle damage they cause.

[tatest]

I probably would, if I had to.

I grew up in Michigan in the 1950s, have driven on melting snow, deep wet snow, snow compressed to ice, and ice from sleet and freezing rain. When it has been really cold, I would drive tens of miles on icy roads to get to clearer roads to complete my journey, sometimes 20-30 miles at 10-20 mph. When I lived in Chicago and had to drive to Detroit during winter storms, I would follow the snow plows (usually running 30 mph) through the lake effect areas in Western Michigan.

In NE Oklahoma the past 30 years, winter storms start by putting ice on the ground, cover it with snow, sometimes cap it with another layer ice. We drive when and where necessary on the stuff. Sometimes it means moving at 5-10 mph.

There have been other times when I've gotten into wet glare ice (FWD car with traction and anti-skid) and I would get off the road at the nearest exit and find some place to stay until it melted. I've moved this way on surfaces too slick for me to walk on.

But if you have no experience with this kind of driving, don't even try it. If you don't have to get there by some certain time, wait it out. While it is likely that the conditions forecasts will mean the roads are only wet, they could be slicker than drivers expect, and recent history suggests that folks today when they get on freeways and Interstate highways have no understanding of how much they need to slow down on slick roads to maintain control.

[holstein13]

FINAL ANALYSIS: I waited 24 hours to begin my trip and enjoyed clear sunny skies but lots of wind (15 -21 mph). Fortunately, the wind was roughly behind me the entire time and may have helped reduce fuel consumption and wind noise at times.

When I arrived, I asked the front desk if they had had snow the day before. The gal at the front indicated that they had a pretty good snowfall that started around 1:00 and ended around 3:00 that dropped about 1-1.5 inches of snow on the campground. There was still some snow on the grass when I got there. So the long and short of it is that there was less snowfall than anticipated and it started later than anticipated.

Had I left early in the morning like I had intended to, I would have been a little wet from the rain but fine otherwise. Since the weather called for early snow, I decided to wait. I think it was a good decision to wait it out because the forecast was unfavorable. Had the forecast been 100% accurate, it would have been risky.

I learned a lot from this discussion. Having spent most of my life avoiding cold weather, I don't have the experience many of you do. Frankly, I have never seen a tire chain in real life. One of the scariest experiences I've ever had was driving across an icy bridge in Tennessee when I had to get to the airport. I had to point my car towards the crown on the left and continue driving as I was constantly sliding to the right and in danger of sliding off the bridge. I wouldn't want to repeat that experience, especially in a luxury motorhome.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this discussion.

[dave17352]

malexander wrote:
I live in Oklahoma. It may be perfectly clear and 70*, 5 mins later, 0 & snowing/sleeting. I'll keep driving, been doing it for 41 years without a problem. I just worry about the other guy The trick is, don't do anything sudden, stay AHEAD of the vehicle.

Ok now that's pushing it a little. I have lived there also. The weather does change pretty darn quick!! But...

[malexander]

I live in Oklahoma. It may be perfectly clear and 70*, 5 mins later, 0 & snowing/sleeting. I'll keep driving, been doing it for 41 years without a problem. I just worry about the other guy The trick is, don't do anything sudden, stay AHEAD of the vehicle.

[gonesouth]

The problem I always had with driving in snow was if you can't find a safe place to pull over with a large rig.

[Kayteg1]

Say what? I had 4WD and Caltrans still made me buying chains.
If we allow weather to stop us from doing what we want, I wonder what life in Alaska or Siberia would look like.
I would not encourage somebody who never drove on snow to take his RV with toad into the storm, but worse come to worse, you can always pull over into safe area and go to sleep early.

[koda55]

I grew up in Pa and was used to driving in snow and ice. After retiring from the military I started driving OTR. My company had a policy that if you needed to put chains on, park it. Talking to many of the old time drivers about driving in snow, they all said the same thing. Once you start wondering if you should stop and park it, you have already exceeded that time. Many times we exceed our experience. No place is so important to get to that we risk our lives and our family lives not to mention someone else's.

[gkainz]

Weather forecast for Colorado is not 1 - 3 inches for this weekend, it's 1 to 3 FEET! Starting with rain, quick temp drop to freezing and then the monster snow dump is supposed to start, and keep on snowing thru Monday night.

Nope, I wouldn't do it. But I didn't see where the OP was starting from, so just assumed when you said I-70 you meant up and over the Rockies.

[fourmat]

I had to do it last weekend in PA If you do it just make sure you wash the underside good I used a lawn sprinkler for an hour

[45Ricochet]

holstein13 wrote:

Tom/Barb wrote:
What is UT's laws on carrying chains?


http://www.udot.utah.gov/main/f?p=100:pg:0:::1:T,V:1673,64441

I looked at that page and am not traveling on those roads requiring chains.

Now that there sounds like fun... chaining up the MH :E