Heed High Wind Warnings

TundraTower wrote:
Anyone have an idea what wind speed will turn over a travel trailer? OR, actual observations?

My calc's indicate 72-73 MPH wind in perfect conditions (nothing upwind of the trailer, wind exactly 90 degrees to trailer side, 70F, sitting still, etc).

I'd say your estimate is pretty close. Last May a couple of us were towing our trailers south on I15 just north of Salt Lake City on our way to Moab during a big wind event (winds at 45+, gusting to 80). The freeway was closed to high profile vehicles, so we had to jump off and find an alternate route. The only alternate route was on the east side of the freeway, towards the mountains east of Salt Lake, and the wind was also coming from the east, meaning we were heading into the worst of it.

Driving east into the wind wasn't a big deal, but once we turned south, the wind was exactly 90 degrees to us. That was a very white-knuckled 25 mile drive before we got out of the high wind area. Even driving 20 mph, the wind kept pushing me a full lane over. My buddy in front of me had a small Lance 1575 and a gust hit him so bad that it moved him over a lane and a half and almost lifted the street side tire off the ground. If it wasn't for the slide and fridge on that side, I swear it would have gone all the way over.

All the big rigs were parked and taking refuge along any building or retaining wall they could find and there wasn't even many passenger cars out willing to brave it. We passed a police car who probably thought we were insane, but he never pulled us over, since the road we were on wasn't technically closed to high profile vehicles.

We were on a tight timeline, but it was dumb to keep pushing on and we were lucky. I won't drive in winds like that ever again.

Anyone have an idea what wind speed will turn over a travel trailer? OR, actual observations?

My calc's indicate 72-73 MPH wind in perfect conditions (nothing upwind of the trailer, wind exactly 90 degrees to trailer side, 70F, sitting still, etc).

According to news articles, this section of highway was closed to lightweight and high profile vehicles during the wind event. The driver got the ticket because they ignored posted warnings. They were cited for traveling on a closed section of interstate.

The driver got a ticket for driving in Strong Wind Advisory. NOT illegal but they ticketed him anyway. It's his fault the truck fell over! I got a ticket in Western Wy for having the rear airbag bled off due to a broken wire. I fixed it but they gave me a $250. ticket anyway just to be jerks. Oh I could ahve fought it but is it worth $700 in lawyer fees to fight a ticket?

Left lane, if you can, otherwise slow down to 45mph.

In MN he also should have gotten into the left lane. Big trouble if you don't when passing a patrol car.

What the heck is wrong with the people that kept driving after clearly seeing a semi crush a patrol car?! I'd at least stop to make sure there was no one in it.

In a similar but sad story, a tractor trailer went off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Thursday as well. When it first happened, they were saying it was the wind. Winds were gusting to 60 MPH. Now they're saying it was driver error. Sounds like some CYA to me (bridge should have been closed to trucks and trailers). The driver survived the fall and was seen standing on top of his floating rig. A Navy combat helicopter crew on a training mission saw it happen and fished him from the top of the rig. Sadly, he died on the way to the hospital.

http://wjhl.com/2017/02/11/police-driver-error-caused-truck-to-go-over-the-side-of-the-chesapeake-bay-bridge-tunnel/

profdant139 wrote:
Here's a link --

Gotta watch this!

Really amazing. This happened on Feb. 7.

This is truly amazing, that no one was hurt. Our local news channels in Denver were reporting on this, since we've been dealing with high winds over the past several days -- wind gusts in excess of 100mph in some mountain locations, and 70mph in Longmont CO and other locations in northern Colorado. This particular location, Elk Mountain WY, is susceptible to high winds frequently, so as stated, heed those warnings. While the trucker was going slow and had his flashers on, one can see that this is not enough. I recall a trip up to Cheyenne WY one day when a high wind warning had been issued, and just across the state line from Colorado, were 9 tractor trailers on their sides, all victims of the wind. Couldn't be uprighted until the winds died down. Heed the warnings, indeed!

Ohhh....

Here's a link --

Gotta watch this!

Really amazing. This happened on Feb. 7.