There is plenty of disruptive weather happening today, October 22, in several regions of the U.S. Resulting delays for shippers should be minor/moderate. Driver safety will be the main concern.
Stormy mess in the East
Truckers will run into wet and stormy conditions on the I-81 and I-95 corridors, from the southern Appalachians to New England. The cold front that helped spawn tornadoes in Dallas, Texas Sunday night is moving through the eastern U.S. today and tonight. But the system isn’t quite as powerful as it was a couple of days ago.
Rain may be heavy in some areas, but probably not heavy enough to cause much flash flooding. However, thunderstorms could produce severe winds, isolated tornadoes and spots of hail from Jacksonville and southeastern Georgia to Raleigh, Virginia Beach and the Delmarva Peninsula. The best chance for severe storms is from eastern North Carolina to near Norfolk, as shown in the FreightWaves SONAR Critical Events map above. The highest rain amounts – possibly one to two inches – will likely be from upstate New York into New England. The Northeast will gradually dry out tomorrow afternoon and evening, October 23.
Snowy out west
Watch out for heavy snowfall in western Montana tonight into tomorrow as a cold front moves through the region. Roads will be very slippery heading over Kings Hill Pass (US-89) and surrounding areas where four to eight inches could pile up.
The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a Winter Weather Advisory, which begins this evening and lasts until noon tomorrow, MDT. The same front may produce heavy snowfall across central and eastern Colorado, as well as portions of New Mexico, on Wednesday night and Thursday.
Wicked winds
Drivers will have to battle strong crosswinds of 40 to 50 mph across the Midwest, especially along I-29, I-90 and I-94. Gusts from the northwest will make it risky for deadheading. Blowovers are possible from eastern sections of the Dakotas and Nebraska into Minnesota, Iowa, southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. This includes Grand Forks, Fargo, East Grand Forks, Fergus Falls, Sioux Falls, Sioux City, Des Moines, Omaha, Milwaukee and points just north of Chicago.
Additional notes
A 115-mile stretch of Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) track is still out of service in Missouri between Kansas City and Moberly. Flooding in early October led to a logjam that caused the collapse of the Norfolk Southern bridge over the Grand River in Brunswick, Missouri. The repairs may not be done until mid-November. Norfolk Southern has entered into agreements with its interline partners to detour freight traffic over alternative gateways through the duration of the outage.
Have a great day, and be careful out there!
