Question about snow driving in MN/WI.

December 28, 2009 12:51 PM

Tedious question about tedious drive: when will it be reasonably safe to drive from southern Missouri to Wisconsin/Minnesota and back?

I have to make a MO/WI/MN drive sometime but I see by the state websites that much of the highways are covered with snow and ice, so as to make driving difficult or impossible. ("Snow," apparently, is some kind of white, very cold substance that is loosely correlated with the winter months -- we don't see much of it down here.) My Farmers' Almanac - style question is: based on your knowledge and experiences in the past, when can I start my trip with a reasonable chance that the roadways won't become impassable again? Do I need to wait until spring or is it the case that MN/WI roadways are typically made passable quickly after a snow/ice storm?

dg

posted by Mr. Justice to Travel & Transportation (17 answers total)

Um... it's fine now. If you're that nervous, you certainly shouldn't go while it is actively precipitating outside your vehicle, but the roads are perfectly fine.
posted by Madamina at 12:57 PM on December 28, 2009

Drive along major highways, and you can do it pretty much anytime. I drove through Oklahoma and Missouri the last few days -- only 24 hours after their record-breaking snow storm -- and had very, very little snow or ice on the highway.
posted by wordsmith at 12:58 PM on December 28, 2009

The bad news: Jan., Feb. and March can be extremely snowy months in the upper midwest (March in particular bringing huge wet sloppy blizzards that are very slippery).

The good news: Maintenance crews in that part of the world know what they're doing and are very good at getting roads--especially major interstates--cleared and safely driveable in a hurry.

Bottom line: If you're in no hurry and really want to avoid any chance of snow, I'd say wait until, probably, mid-April. If you're willing to live a *little* dangerously, you could go earlier--just make sure to keep an eye on the long-range forecasts. (Another plus about that part of the world, as distinct from, say, the Pacific NW where I now live, is that it is generally pretty easy for forecasters to see major storms coming several days in advance. Usually. In most cases.)
posted by Kat Allison at 1:02 PM on December 28, 2009

Look at the NOAA website forecasts for MN, MO and WI (you forgot either IL or IA, depending on your route) here (Iowa forecast example) and plan your trip accordingly. If you have a cell phone with you and don't do anything stupid (e.g., driving when travel "not recommended" or driving around the automatic barricades the DOT puts up across I-35 to gently remind stupid drivers they shouldn't be out), you'll be just fine.

Finally, if you have an SUV, don't get cocky. Most of the vehicles I see in the ditch in bad weather here in central Iowa tend to be, oddly, SUV's and 4-WD pickups.
posted by webhund at 1:02 PM on December 28, 2009

Response by poster: OK -- I am sorry to be naive about this -- see

http://hb.511ia.org/main.jsf#

This seems to indicate that a substantial portion of I-35 is covered with ice and that towing services are disallowed from working there. Do the state websites just operate with an excess of caution? Am I misreading them? Thanks in advance for your advice.
posted by Mr. Justice at 1:04 PM on December 28, 2009

Not naive at all. Wait till I have to post a question about how big the rattlers are in Arkansas. :)
What I can tell you is that I'm standing here looking at I-35 near West Des Moines, Iowa and traffic is whizzing by at about 80 mph (the limit is 70).

Drive at your level of comfort. Me? I'd go, but I've got 30 years of upper midwest driving experience under my wheels. YMMV.
posted by webhund at 1:16 PM on December 28, 2009

Hm, interesting that that patch of I-35 is messed up--but keep in mind last week's storm was a biggie. I wasn't paying close attention to what was going on in Iowa, but my memory is that they had quite a bit of freezing rain followed by snow--a meteorological sequence that leaves a godawful frozen substratum that can take longer than usual to clear.

Checking the comparable website for Minnesota DOT shows that everything except the SW corner of the state is in decent shape.

I'd say a combination of checking DOT websites and weather forecasts, cautious driving, and having a cellphone with you, should get you to your destination in decent shape. Err on the side of hunkering down and waiting out adverse weather. And truck stops can be a good place to gather first-hand intel from drivers coming from the opposite direction.
posted by Kat Allison at 1:18 PM on December 28, 2009

I drove between Minneapolis and Des Moines on that stretch of I-35 this past weekend. The highways are fine, clear even, though you'll notice a thin strip of ice between the lanes. So don't do crazy things while changing lanes. Turn gently onto on- and off-ramps. Don't swerve onto the shoulders (which are definitely covered with snow and ice). Make sure your windshield wipers work, and put some winter wiper fluid in your car. You'll be using it.

Highways are the least of your concern -- they are approximately 952% better than the regular streets in my neighborhood. Holy cow.

There were a surprising number of cars in ditches yesterday, but from the looks of things the cars had been there for a while. Fun fact: in Iowa they put police yellow caution tape around abandoned cars, so it looks like a crime scene! In Minnesota they just write on your back windshield.
posted by Maarika at 1:20 PM on December 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

Agreeing that unless you're driving while it is actively snowing heavily, roads in the northern states get cleared pretty quickly. We drive from Fargo to Milwaukee and back throughout the year for family reasons, and we drove the route last week on the 23rd and the 26th. For the most part, roads are much worse at night -- I can't think of a recent time where we've been on slippery or sloppy roads during the day. During daytime driving, the roads are largely clear and salted and in good shape. After dark, I don't know if they stop running the plows or just the cold and lower traffic make it worse, but the nastier roads seem to always be after sunset and before sunrise. Plan your route for the daytime, and when no major weather is occuring, and you'll be better off.

We, too, saw a lot of cars in the ditches this week, but by my standards, even though the roads were icky, they weren't particularly slippery. We could only surmise that people were driving too fast on roads where you couldn't see the lines, so by the time you realized they were heading off the road it was too late to correct. If the roads look icky, slow down and leave plenty of room between yourself and other cars.
posted by AzraelBrown at 1:55 PM on December 28, 2009

While a cell phone is a great help you should have supplies in your car (clothing, blankets, water, food, entertainment) to last a couple days sitting on the side of the road. If things do go pear shaped in a hurry and you end up in a ditch in a blizzard you want to be prepared and it shouldn't cost you anything besides a couple of bottles of water and a bag of munchies.
posted by Mitheral at 3:03 PM on December 28, 2009

As a native Iowan who drove I-35 a lot, I never thought twice about the trip. Even in one of the worst storms to hit Iowa, I drove I-80 to I-35 north through drifts that were so tall they went up to the tops of the overpasses. Traffic was still moving. Even if you get stuck out in the middle of nowhere in the dead of night, I doubt you would have to sit in your car more than a couple of hours. You will be fine.
posted by Foam Pants at 3:54 PM on December 28, 2009

Well, I just drove from Stl to Mke and the roads were totally fine.
posted by sulaine at 4:51 PM on December 28, 2009

Tips for northern Iowa/Minnesota driving in winter:

1. Make sure your cellphone's charged and with you before you drive.
2. Wear warm clothing, including a coat, etc. in the car while driving.
3. Stock your car with supplies, as Mitheral describes above.
4. Make sure you've got good enough tires for the drive.
5. Put a bag of sand or similarly heavy, traction-providing agent in the trunk.

I know someone from Missouri who, while driving to Minneapolis/St. Paul one January, wore basically a T-shirt, flip-flops, and shorts, with his coat and pants in the back seat. When his pickup truck, sans snow tires, etc., happened to slide off the road into a ditch, he first tried to dial for help on his uncharged cellphone—only to have it die almost immediately. Then, when he got out of the truck to get his pants, coat, and shoes on, the wind slammed the door shut, locking him out of the truck—inside of which remained his dead cellphone and (I think) wallet. So then he had to walk to the nearest exit—luckily only a few miles away—in search of a service station.

So go—but be prepared.
posted by limeonaire at 5:23 PM on December 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

sulaine did part of your trip, and I did another: 35 and 380 are fine; I just got back from a Iowa City - Minneapolis trip.

The worst you'll find is some windy sections with snow blowing across the highway or leaving little piles on the lanes, as well as slippery corners on the intersections for overpasses and ramps to the highway.

Follow limeonaire's advice above.
posted by whatzit at 6:31 PM on December 28, 2009

We chickened out this year, and flew from Toronto to MO. And we're fairly experienced Canadian drivers in a front-wheel drive stick shift with winter tires.

Two years ago, driving I-35 was bollocks. Freezing fog, maybe 30' visibility, and many deer on the side of the road licking up salt. Took three days to get to Kansas City.

Last year was real special. Freezing rain through Illinois. Trucks spinning off I-55; see IL at 25mph over whitening knuckles.

So check and recheck the DOT sites, and drive carefully, if you must.
posted by scruss at 7:12 PM on December 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

Go slowly. If you have anti-lock brakes, that's a plus. Cell phone on hand. Don't go at night if snowy/icy. Have a shovel in the car. Stick to the main roads.
posted by proficiency101 at 7:36 PM on December 28, 2009

once you get here (I'm in a Minneapolis suburb) be aware of your cars traction control features. more than once i thought i was stuck in an icy parking only to realize my car was noticing the ice and not spinning the wheels at all. I turned off the traction control and sure it was icy but at least i could drive out of the parking lot.
posted by thilmony at 8:24 PM on December 28, 2009