Fuel for Thought

Polar Vortex 2014

At 1800 last night I made a trip from Ann Arbor to Grand Rapids, Michigan. It had a good sample of the lower Michigan road conditions. The eastern half of the route was a solid -9 degrees. The last thirty miles going into Grand Rapids the temperature shot up to -2 along with higher winds and blowing snow. Most trucking routes are passable. The open interstate is clear. The cold temperatures and steady traffic has frozen off all snow and ice. Around the cities with multiple interchanges like Brighton and Lansing, there are patchy areas of ice due to slowing traffic. All on and off ramps are still suicidal. Off interstate roads and streets are hard or loose packed depending on traffic. I made the trip traveling at 50-53 mph and reduced to 45 for the worst interstate sections. The slowest vehicles were going as slow as 35 and many of the big trucks were still running between 55 and 60.

Always up for a challenge, I heard the conditions in Iowa are worse, so that's where I'm headed next.

eb