Weather

[Tom_Barb]

How much do you allow the weather impact your travel plans?

We only view it as effecting road conditions.

[Wild_Bill_888]

Interesting weather site with many useful features.

Windy.com

[10forty2]

Weather is playing a larger part of our RV'ing. If we have a trip to the local lake/state park planned and it looks like it will be raining a good part of the time, we'll cancel. We like to sit outside and don't care anything about being cooped up inside for longer than overnight to sleep. We rode out two hurricanes in Virginia Beach, and a major 3-day flood in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Trust me, it was NO fun sitting in the camper with only the 10 channels on the campground cable.

I will stop short of saying that I'd NEVER drive the RV in snow, as I could well get caught in it. BUT....I will not intentionally set out traveling in the snow with the RV.

[ferndaleflyer]

We used to ski, A LOT, and have driven in snow, ice, freezing rain, the whole mess. I have had the doors freeze shut twice and laid a C class over on its side once in deep snow. But bad weather of the normal kind has never stopped me. I have dug out with a loader to go South and have had to stay away from home because of flooding. I think I am more leery of wind than anything else because a 40ft DP with a trailer is just like a big sail and side wind gusts will move it.

[Dick_B]

We are bicyclists and the weather plays a huge part of our plan because we are outside much of the time. Riding in the rain is no fun...

[Lwiddis]

Wind stops me if the California DOT doesn’t for that or other reasons. Nothing else...but I don’t like driving in the dark when towing.

[wa8yxm]

Two answers. In general I "Winterize" (Head to upstate South Carolina) long about Halloween. or the first Sunday following the first Saturday in NOV (special party at church on said Saturday). and back mid-to MI (De-winterize) mid to late April .

Last spring I should have waited another week hit a major snow storm in Ohio but .. Got to MI and set up (No water yet in park. turned it on I think 2 days later but on board had abou 50 gallons when I got there or more).

But that is about the only time I look at the weather. If it is really bad I'll park till the storm clears.

[rk911]

on our way home from AZ last spring we stopped over at a park in Amarillo for what was to be just a couple of nights. we ended up staying a week because of really high winds. no place to go and all day to get there!

[Executive45]

We only go to places above 70 degrees F....:)

[jplante4]

Fire stopped our western trek this summer. We also will extend a day at a campground if travel day Wx looks bad.

[rgatijnet1]

We mostly travel in the Winter, out West, in the mountains. Snow and cold temps have never bothered us and the big dog loves the snow. We do keep an eye on the weather, which affects the route we will take to our next destination. If it looks like we may encounter a snow storm, I usually keep on the interstate highways. If there is a lot of snow on the ground from a previous storm, then I try to stick to the major roads. If it is just cold and it has been awhile since the last snow, then we drive the back roads, which we prefer. We also check ahead so that we can find a place to park. We once had to wait in Williams, AZ for the RV park owner to use his front loader to clear the snow out of a parking space so we could spend a few days there. Basically we are pretty flexible as to where we are going and just don't like to spend more than a few days at a location. The weather might cause us to change the route that we will take but it very very seldom stops us from traveling for a day or so.

[toedtoes]

For me, there is so much more to that question than just "how much do you allow weather to impact your travel?"

First, is the weather issue some rain for a day, couple days of showers, a blizzard, a downpour for several days, high winds for a week, etc.?

Second, is the weather something I have to pass through? Or is it at my destination?

Third, why am I going to that particular destination?

Last week, I wanted to go camping for 4 nights because I had 5 days off work. Purpose: just to get away from home for a relaxing time. Weather: rain from the time I would be leaving home through days and nights 1 and 2, high winds and rain for day 3 and overnight, sun for part of day 4 and all of day 5 (for travel home). I went - because the weather didn't interfere with my ability to enjoy the trip. Waiting a day or two until the travel weather would have been better, would have made it an overnight trip and not worth the effort for me.

In comparison, if my purpose had been specifically to be outdoors doing something OR the weather was to have been horrid the entire trip OR I could postpone the trip without impact (aka retired), then I probably would have pushed it back.

[GREGORYJ]

Agree with other comments, that is, I will adjust travel departure time and/or route for weather conditions like strong winds, freezing conditions or heavy rain.
Being retired allows us to be flexible. We have laid over a number of times, for as long as 2 days, for a winter storm to move on, or high winds to drop, etc. On some lucky occasions we found a camp site, but many times a nearby Walmart has become the safe place to park and they are usually easy to find. I use this web site to check weather conditions and forecast for locations along our planned route.

https://www.wunderground.com/

[Matt_Colie]

We used to travel a lot this time of year. We always allowed at least an extra day. When traveling in the coach, we always departed with provisions for three days.

Why Three Days?
Several times the weather turned out worse than was predicted. So, we just found a place to hunker down, stay warn and watch the chaos around us. We were held up for a big part of a day twice. But both of those could easily have become two days. So, the third day is just in case we did get held up for two, it was still not a worry.

Matt

[way2roll]

A few years ago we were on the return leg of a trip from FL to the Northeast. We knew an ice/snow storm was coming but were confident we could beat the storm and make it home to the mountains of MD before it hit. Well, storm came quicker and traffic made us slower and we were caught on I-95 in a horrible ice and snow blizzard. NOVA did nothing to cover the roads, temps dropped quickly into the teens, and cars were sliding everywhere - some literally crashing right in front of us. I could not find an open CG - they all close up in the Northeast in the winter. Longest, white knuckle drive ever. We made it but I am not sure how. I vowed I would NEVER do that again. Heck only one more day in the South would have prevented what could have been a catastrophe. Having a MH allows you stop virtually anywhere and I ignored that. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Look at your forecasts very carefully, and always err on the side of caution. Leverage all the self containment of your MH you bought it for and avoid bad weather and dangerous driving conditions if at all possible. It's just not worth it.