Worst weather you've ever driven in.

[jeepman3071]

1. Snowstorm that dumped 2 inches per hour a few years ago, and the town plows were not prepared. Some of the back roads I was making the first set of tracks in my old Jeep Cherokee XJ and the snow was high enough I was pushing it with the front bumper. Lots of wind and drifts made it impossible to see. Lots of cars stuck on hills and buried, lots of accidents blocking entire roads.

2. A hurricane was dumping tons of rain and all the roads were flooded. A family member's generator wouldn't start, so I drove there around all the downed power lines to help. Looking back this was pretty dumb considering how many large branches were flying around.

3. In November 2018 I drove to Niagara falls with my ex. We had a snowstorm in upper state NY on our drive there (weather predicted was "chance of rain"). I had my BMW with the snow tires, and it did fine in the snow, but there was a ton of ice on the hills and mountain roads. With the snow and wind visibility got down to pretty much zero. We had to keep driving because stopping on the desolate mountain roads was not really a good idea. So it was pretty much white knuckle driving in unfamiliar territory with icy conditions and zero visibility.

 

[DGXR]

1965 Mustang 6-cylinder, single speed wipers, brutal downpour of rain driving from Chico CA to San Jose CA... at night. Couldn't see much but I wasn't driving very fast either LOL. Didn't want to stop because water was leaking into the cabin through the rusted cowl and had to get through the storm. The minute I get to San Jose and park in the driveway, the rain stopped. FML

 

[tiger862]

Drove 4 hrs in blinding fog with drivers door open to see white line. Had an 18 wheeler on my bumper the whole way watching for cars that were stupid enough to pass. We had CB radios at that time. Got pulled over by police cause door was open but he let me go across a bridge as well as trucker when we gave him our name just in case we went off the bridge. As bad as seemed it was a good night as both of us lived unlike the fella that passed us and perished when he went through a field at high speed.

 

[JohnnyO]

Couple of blizzards in central and upstate NY. Got divorced and my ex moved back up to her hometown with our kids so I made that drive a lot. Worst was Feb. 3, 2008, wife #2 and I had gone up to visit my kids. Easy to remember because it was Super Bowl Sunday, the game when the Cheating Bastiges From New England were undefeated all season until the Giants beat them in the Super Bowl. We left Watertown, NY in the morning in heavy snow, it got better before we got to Syracuse, then when we got to Buffalo the NY Thruway was closed at the toll booth and looking west the sky was a strange shade of yellow but it was not snowing. We cut south to try to sneak into Erie the back way but hit a total whiteout. I have 4wd but it's of little help when you can't see the freaking road right in front of you and you don't know if you're on the road or in your lane or driving through someone's yard. After a few miles I found a spot to turn around, we get back to the Thruway where it's still not snowing at all and headed back toward Rochester to stay in a hotel. Watched the Super Bowl in a Red Roof Inn. In the morning the snow was kicking, I-90 was closed, we checked the map and weather and I-80 didn't look good either. Took US Rt. 15 south to Harrisburg and the PA Turnpike home to Pittsburgh. Roundabout way but we dodged the rest of the blizzard. Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel was holed up in a restaurant I'd been to many times, The Grist Mill on I-81 between Watertown and Syracuse, and by the end of the week the snow was up to the rain gutters. Upstate NY got literally ten feet of snow in five days.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

We stayed in the same Red Roof Inn in 2005, after leaving Niagara Falls. In the morning we had breakfast next door to it...... a pancake restaurant.
Our worst snowstorm also involved leaving Niagara Falls in 1971. It never stopped snowing during our long ride to New York City. Lots of mountain hair-pin turns with no guard rails back then. The 1969 Chevy Camaro we drove was RWD and so-so tire thread.

 

[JoelB]

Brought my wife from the NW suburbs down to the SE corner of Minneapolis to the airport in an ice storm last winter. Craziest thing I've ever been in. Literal ice/black ice over 50% + of the roads. Probably 20 or more cars in the ditch or in the wall. 2 jackknifed semis where they shut down 494 for like 3 hours.

I would NEVER go through that again. My head pounded so hard when i got home from the stress.

 

[NYEngineer]

Drove a Ford E250 filled with 8D batteries over the Throgs Neck Bridge during the storm that the movie The Perfect Storm was about. Scary.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Originally Posted by JoelB
Brought my wife from the NW suburbs down to the SE corner of Minneapolis to the airport in an ice storm last winter. Craziest thing I've ever been in. Literal ice/black ice over 50% + of the roads. Probably 20 or more cars in the ditch or in the wall. 2 jackknifed semis where they shut down 494 for like 3 hours.

I would NEVER go through that again. My head pounded so hard when i got home from the stress.



That's winter driving in the SE US. It's either ICE or heavy wet snow which has been compacted into ICE.

 

[edyvw]

I drove through numerous snow storms and extremely cold weather (down to -45). However, the worst experience was a drive from Memphis, TN to Montgomery, AL in April 2006. I was driving Ford E350 passenger van with girls athletic team from one university. I was volunteer coach and head coach was with me. So, we get caught in thunderstorm cell around Tupelo, MS, and at that time girls are sleeping while this idiot is freaking out to the point where I thought he will have heart attack. FORD on other hand was limited I think to 65 or 70mph, and I was keeping it at max speed. It is raining, and I could feel a bit of hydroplaning but trying to go as fast bcs. as I slow down hail starts to catch up with me. We could see funnels several times not far away as lightning hits. Anyway, this guy becomes so panicky that only way to calm him down was to get the girls wake up and talk him down. Now, at one point they get freaked up, but nothing special. Anyway, I hit Tupelo, saw Best Buy on the way and we sheltered there. But that scene of 8 18 year old girls comforting grown up man was priceless.
On serious note, tornados that night really messed up that region and we were lucky that only problem was small hail damage on the van.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

I once drove under a wide road bridge overhead from the freeway and stopped for a few minutes, thinking I was in danger of a funnel cloud nearby. This one was a six lane highway - plus center lane, so that bridge protection overhead was enough protection that day.

 

[97tbird]

Iceland - Ring Road during a snow / ice storm in a mountain pass. 70 mph wind gusts at times, per weather report and displays on the roads (they have LED info boards that display current conditions on the Ring Road) IDK if I experienced a 70 mph gust but car was shaking pretty well at times and worst of all you could see OTHER cars wavering with gusts. sustained winds were 30-40 MPH over the pass. Roads fully white/iced, and curvy. worst visibility and road conditions I've faced. I was scared, but did better than I expected, given the extent of my winter driving experience in South East Asia and NC, USA.

Most of roads don't have ANY guard rails in iceland- just yellow sticks marking the white abyss where road ends and whiteness begins.
Me and wife were in a rental Kia Sportage AWD with studded snow tires. That vehicle was GOOD, it kept us safe during our trip, and we ventured out pretty much everyday and everyday there were warnings for road conditions.

 

[hardcore302]

Driving a crown vic during the nyc microburst/tornado in flushing meadow Park. Whiteout. Could not see. Brief but scary. When it stopped I just saw downed trees all around me like a bomb went off.

 

[road_rascal]

Back in 2007-2008 my daughter and I did a Minnesota 1000 24 hour motorcycle rally (basically a scavenger hunt for roadside attractions, monuments, etc). We were just outside Winnipeg getting a photo of the Corey Koskie sign (MN Twins player birth town of Anola) when we saw some strong thunderstorms to the west. We ended up catching the south end of the storm in Dominion City and was hit by 70mph winds and a downpour that was on a Biblical scale. We made it through OK but saw the next day that a few tornadoes hit Winnipeg and a few riders got stranded and had to stay overnight. Absolutely the worst weather we have every ridden through. We still chat about this often.