Interstate Road Condition Weather Forecast?

[Midpack]

We’re leaving on a long road trip (750 mi) in a few days and that can be iffy up north this time of year, so we’re trying to choose the best day to make the all day drive down and then back a week or so later. We’re flexible on both dates.

Obviously we can piece together a bunch of state or regional forecasts but it seems like there’s an app for everything these days, hoped we could just enter start and end location and dates and get a somewhat detailed driving forecast.

I did a search and got a few hits, but none looked very promising. Mostly construction and accident maps, or small area weather info. Has anyone found such an app or website?

 

[braumeister]

This is pretty good.
https://www.weather.gov/dvn/road_conditions

 

[Jerry1]

It’s a bit hard to work with and right now it’s not loading for some reason, but if you can get in, it works great for trip planning.

preview.weather.gov/edd/

Don't add www. to the title above.

 

[Sunset]

I find driving on the weekend to be pretty good.
Construction tends not to happen then, and there is no massive rush hour times.

As for the weather, when we drive to FL, from Chicago, I watch and if a storm is predicted for when we are to leave, I'll leave a day early to get ahead of it.

Snow and Ice are my main concerns.

 

[RunningBum]

How about https://www.accuweather.com/en/driving-directions-weather ?

I used to have a way to enter future dates and vary times along the way for sleepovers, etc. Not sure this does it anymore.

 

[Animorph]

Something like the Android app Weather Route might be interesting. It shows weather along your route, though I don't think it has road conditions.

 

[RunningBum]

I also use this:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/national/weather-forecast-maps

Not specific for a route, but you can look at daily rain/snow/ice forecasts and get a good idea of when storms are coming through and whether you can delay or move up a trip to avoid them. I use this and then click on specific city weather to get more details of a problem area.

 

[Midpack]

I also use this:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/national/weather-forecast-maps

Not specific for a route, but you can look at daily rain/snow/ice forecasts and get a good idea of when storms are coming through and whether you can delay or move up a trip to avoid them. I use this and then click on specific city weather to get more details of a problem area.

Thanks. That’s the best one I’ve seen so far.

 

[Midpack]

I find driving on the weekend to be pretty good.
Construction tends not to happen then, and there is no massive rush hour times.

As for the weather, when we drive to FL, from Chicago, I watch and if a storm is predicted for when we are to leave, I'll leave a day early to get ahead of it.

Snow and Ice are my main concerns.

Snow and ice are our real concerns too. We’d like to drive one day, but it may take two.

 

[Jerry1]

It’s a bit hard to work with and right now it’s not loading for some reason, but if you can get in, it works great for trip planning.

preview.weather.gov/edd/

Don't add www. to the title above.

This is working now. Try it.

 

[Scrapr]

Oregon has Tripcheck w/cameras & forecasts

https://tripcheck.com/Pages/Road-Conditions


They use NOAA for forecasts. Can you look up NOAA for your travel route. I go over a mountain pass most weeks. I watch it a couple days ahead of time and then watch as the forecast changes. I find them pretty spot on. None of the sensationalism like the local weather guys.


Last night Portland got 1 inch of snow. A forecaster out of Seattle called for 4-7" of snow. Some of the local guys followed along with the big forecast. Grocery store shelves were sold out. Bread, milk.....and kale!!!!

 

[Bir48die]

Oregon has Tripcheck w/cameras & forecasts

https://tripcheck.com/Pages/Road-Conditions


They use NOAA for forecasts. Can you look up NOAA for your travel route. I go over a mountain pass most weeks. I watch it a couple days ahead of time and then watch as the forecast changes. I find them pretty spot on. None of the sensationalism like the local weather guys.


Last night Portland got 1 inch of snow. A forecaster out of Seattle called for 4-7" of snow. Some of the local guys followed along with the big forecast. Grocery store shelves were sold out. Bread, milk.....and kale!!!!

Yeah, we're tracking this from the Caribbean. Always enjoy reading about the Portland panic when one inch of snow falls.

 

[mpeirce]

Related to this I wanted (still want) a trip planning app that will taake elevation into account for the roads suggested.

When driving from Ohio to Florida (for example) we try to avoid crossing the higher mountain passes when there is bad weather. I'd happily drive a few hours our of my way to avoid a pass that is going to be below freezing (icing) for one that is lower.

The only things I found with elevation information were for planning biking trips.

 

[zinger1457]

Most states post road conditions (weather, accidents, traffic, construction, etc.) on their DOT web site. I know in AZ you can even view the cams they have installed along some of the freeways. Used the Idaho DOT road condition info last week returning from a ski trip and found it helpful for snow/ice conditions on the road.

 

[walkinwood]

I fire up twitter on my phone & follow the state DOT tweets. Check their latest tweets before you get on the road. They're the most up to date information you'll get. My experience is mainly in Colorado though.
Eg: https://twitter.com/ColoradoDOT

 

[Sunset]

Related to this I wanted (still want) a trip planning app that will taake elevation into account for the roads suggested.

When driving from Ohio to Florida (for example) we try to avoid crossing the higher mountain passes when there is bad weather. I'd happily drive a few hours our of my way to avoid a pass that is going to be below freezing (icing) for one that is lower.

The only things I found with elevation information were for planning biking trips.

Funny, when driving to FL in nice weather, as I've gone through some mountain areas with the really steep inclines going downward, I've often thought how dangerous this would be in ice conditions..

 

[f35phixer]

https://tims.ncdot.gov/tims/ as an example. Just noticed they have DriveNC as their go to traffic site.

i used all the DOT's when i was going Md to GA this hurricane season. Loved having to go to Brunswick, GA via Nashville. ;-((((((((((((((((((((((

 

[Walt34]

Grocery store shelves were sold out. Bread, milk.....and kale!!!!

One of the D.C. area's TV meteorologists, Topper Shutt, (I forget what station he's on) came up with the "bread o meter" to describe how many loaves of bread one should buy in anticipation of any given snowstorm. I haven't seen him use it on any forecasts in years so I guess the TV management wimps decided it might upset someone's delicate psyche.

We thought it was hilarious. Well, for a meteorologist anyway.