Messy Monday in the South
Drivers will run into thunderstorms and pockets of heavy rain across several southern states today, October 21. The cold front that helped spin up tornadoes in Dallas, Texas last night will head east, tracking across the South. Expect delays from Houston to New Orleans, northward to Memphis, Nashville and western Kentucky. Storms may contain large hail, severe winds, and isolated tornadoes. This will cause problems on portions of the I-10, I-20, I-40, I-55 and I-65 corridors.
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains posted for areas in the severe weather threat zone. These National Weather Service (NWS) alerts are housed inside the FreightWaves SONAR Critical Events platform shown in the map above.
Snowy out west
Heavy snowfall across the northern Rockies should fade this afternoon, but not until after an additional two to five inches piles up from northern Idaho into western Montana. This will make travel quite slick on I-90 over Lookout Pass, US-12 over Lolo Pass and US-93 over Lost Trail Pass. The city of Butte could see up to two inches. Snow may return to these areas tonight.
The Colorado Rockies will also get hit with heavy snowfall and gusty winds today and tonight, affecting travel through the Eisenhower Tunnel and several mountain passes. Otherwise, this storm will mainly slow down deliveries to Rocky Mountain National Park, as well as ski resorts in Aspen, Breckenridge and Vail.
Whipping winds
Truckers will have to battle high winds across portions of the Dakotas into Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Gusts from the northwest reaching 50 to 60 mph will make deadheading risky throg areas such as Grand Forks, East Grand Forks, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Pierre, North Platte, Des Moines and Salina.
Additional notes
A 115-mile stretch of Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) track remains out of service in Missouri between Kansas City and Moberly. This is due to flooding and a logjam that caused the collapse of the Norfolk Southern bridge over the Grand River in Brunswick, Missouri earlier this month.
The collapse of the railroad bridge has resulted in some recent freight volume shifting to trucks, especially in the Quincy, Illinois market. The current estimate is mid-November for repairs to be complete and service restored. Norfolk Southern has entered into agreements with its interline partners to detour freight traffic over alternative gateways through the duration of the outage.
Tropical update
Bualoi, a small but powerful typhoon, will soon strike the northern Mariana Islands in the western Pacific. Winds could be as high as 115 mph – Category 3 hurricane strength – by the time the typhoon arrives early tomorrow morning, local time, October 22. Damage may be significant, mainly affecting local supply chains. However, container ships will have to continue steering around the storm which may cause minor delays.
Have a great day, and be careful out there!