Moving Words – Winter

Timothy Brady

“The wonder of a single snowflake outweighs the wisdom of a million meteorologists.” – Unknown

We’re in the middle of winter (like I’m telling you something you don’t know). February into March can toss some nasty frozen, cold weather at movers. So are your van operators and moving crews really prepared for the next couple months of unpredictable, frigid weather?

Here’s a list of things to prepare all of your outdoor forces for winter weather: those who drive your moving vans, the crews that pack the belongings or load and unload the shipments.

First, you, your van operator and dispatcher must all know the weather forecast for the intended route. That means more than merely going to The Weather Channel®. Look at multiple weather sites ranging from the U.S. Government’s operation, the National Weather Service, to AccuWeather®, Weather Underground or several of your own choosing. Why multiple weather websites? Weather is now forecast using computer-generated models. Each model is given a percentage of likelihood of occurrence, based on multiple factors: historical, best, and worst-case scenarios. Each of the different weather websites will give their own meteorologists’ take on which model is most likely to occur. If they’re all the same, that means the percentage is very high, indicating a strong likelihood that forecast will come to fruition. However, if they’re different, then I recommend planning for the worst one of the lot.

Next, when planning the route, be sure the team checks a jet stream forecast for North America. (I prefer the WeatherStreet.com 10-day jet stream forecast at https://www.weatherstreet.com/states/gfsx-300-forecast.htm) Why the jet stream? In winter, the jet streams carry the severe weather-making systems across the country. You can pretty much assume that within 200 miles of either side of any jet stream there’ll be heavy weather. And chances are very good if the jet stream follows the highways your driver intends on taking, he or she will need to plan on several weather delays, chaining up over high elevations and having a slow go of it.

In my experience, I found the jet streams to be the best telltale indicator of the worst weather. If the jet stream is going over the top of the intended route, plan an alternative that takes your moving van out of that 400-mile wide jet stream corridor. Sometimes that means running the Southern route; other times it can even be the Northern route. Many times I’d run I-90 to avoid winter weather along I-80, I-70 and I-40. The time made up by not having to stop and wait out a storm, or chain up and remove them can more than cover the increased cost of fuel for the greater distance traveled.

Example: I had a load from the San Francisco Bay area to the Greater Boston Area. The typical route would be I-80 to Chicago, then I-90 on to Boston, a distance of 3,100 miles.
The problem was the jet stream was running right over the top of I-80 and then over I-90 all the way cross-country, with temperatures from the teens to just below freezing the entire distance. It was also carrying moisture from the Pacific across the country; not a good mixture for an easy drive. The weather and jet stream across I-40 was going to be equally as treacherous as I-80 until it got to West Texas; then it was going to go north and merge with the weather system coming across I-80 somewhere in central Illinois. So I chose to head south to I-10 to I-20, to I-30 to I-40 to I-81, I-78 to I-287, to I-95 to I-91, to I-84 to I-495. This logbook roulette route added 490 miles, or less than a full day, and around 83 more gallons of fuel than the regular route using I-80 and I-90 would take.

What was the outcome? Another trucker who loaded at the same place I did in San Francisco delivering to the same location in Boston left at the same time, but chose to run the northern I-80 route. He arrived three days after I delivered. He was stopped several times because of road closures; having to put on/take off chains, a multi-vehicle accident in Nebraska due to ice, and slowed many times to less than 40 mph because of bad conditions. In reality, he burned up most of my 83 additional gallons of fuel sitting and waiting for roads to open. But economically, it got worse yet. The trade show booth he was hauling didn’t make it to the show in Boston on time. His shipper, to put it mildly, was not a happy camper. And while he was trying to find a place to deliver his late load, I was halfway back across the country with another load – making money.

The bottom line is your team knowing the weather for the selected route, then acting on that information while planning the trip so your van operator avoids as much inclement, nasty winter weather as possible. This can not only save your blood pressure from rising, it can actually put more money in your pocket.

FYI – In my nearly quarter-century of winter driving I never slung iron (put on chains). I can count on one hand the number of times I had to shut down and wait out a winter storm to have the roads cleared. I never had any accidents, nor was I ever late picking up or delivering a load. This is a good testament as to how important tracking the weather and planning routes to match it really is. See you on the sunny side of the jet stream!

Please remember to slow down while driving in hazardous road conditions and be prepared to move.