How windy to be a "windy drive"?

[booster]

We just got back from the Rocky Mountain areas and ran into the windiest conditions we have ever seen. Most days were over 20mph and one day was over 50mph. Yesterday we had 400 miles of 30+ sidewind in Colorado and Nebraska. On the 50mph day, from the Tetons out on two lane highway 287 for several hundred miles, we saw a 5er that was on the side of the road with one of the windows blown out of it and the guy trying to pry it back in, and an almost new class C that had half of the rubber roof peeled off with the owner on the roof cutting off the flaps, the approaching semis had the air ride cabs leaning way over compared to the trailers looking really weird, and the semi in front of us for a while had the trailer being pushed to side enough that we could read the name on the side of it. I did a mileage check when the wind was mostly behind us, and we got 38+mpg going up a slight uphill at 65mph over about 5 miles (Scangauge).

At what point do most find that the wind is starting to get noticeable, or troublesome?

 

[mkguitar]

depends on wind direction I suppose.

we get some good cross winds up on i40 between winslow and flagstaff...which will blow a vehicle onto the shoulder.

i think we have it easier in a B as we are heavier/profile than most travel trailers or an empty tractor trailer...they have 53' trailers now- that's a lot of sail.

If I'm not fighting it - and even better a tailwind- then that's ok.

Mike

 

[markopolo-ClassB]

We were in 40 mph crosswinds a week ago on the way home from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick.

Keeping it to the speed limit made for an ok ride. Any faster made it not so comfortable & the van would get knocked around a lot.

Funny you should mention seeing a window blown out - I was wondering about that during the drive and figured it could happen.

Some of the big rigs seemed fine & others were sort of snaking down the road.

 

[booster]

We were in 40 mph crosswinds a week ago on the way home from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick.

Keeping it to the speed limit made for an ok ride. Any faster made it not so comfortable & the van would get knocked around a lot.

Funny you should mention seeing a window blown out - I was wondering about that during the drive and figured it could happen.

Some of the big rigs seemed fine & others were sort of snaking down the road.

There do seem to be a lot of differences in the big rigs, probably both in rig setup and in driver skill. The one mentioned earlier where we could read the side of it was actually going quite straight down the road compared to some that were hitting the white on both sides.

How do you think the van would have done in the 40mph before your handling mods were done?

 

[markopolo-ClassB]

Wind used to really knock the van around before adding the Bilstein shocks and Hellwig rear sway bar.

It would not have been pleasant to say the least!

 

[markopolo-ClassB]

I should add that the 40mph wind knocking the van at 75mph was manageable, just not comfortable having to correct frequently.
Keeping it at or under 70mph made a noticeable difference - much more comfortable.

I had no fear of crossing the line or going off onto the shoulder. The old setup would have required constant attention/fighting to keep the van in my lane in that wind.

 

[BobB-ClassB]

I get nervous with 40mph sustained. The issue is there are usually also gusts, so at 40, getting a 45-50 gust is not uncommon; those are the ones that make me change lanes.

FYI - 40mph is just a bit over 34kts, which is the Beaufort definition of a gale. It is also the bottom end for the wind range of a Tropical Storm (34-63kts). Not weather to be out in, since at that wind speed, things like tree branches start coming off the trees :shock:

40mph is Level 1 restrictions (some RVs, trailers) on the Chesapeake Bridge-Tunnel.

 

[Davydd]

Our first night in Newfoundland we boondocked at the Wreckhouse pull out. It was windy all night long and rocked us asleep.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wreckhouse,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador

We crossed the Mackinaw Bridge in high winds several times. It has been known to blow cars over. Whe the winds are high they reduce the speed to 20 mph or escort you across. We have encountered both situations.

Probably one of the worst cross winds encountered was I-35 in northern Iowa. Gusts were exceeding 50 mph and our Wineguard antenna blade was bent back.

 

[mkguitar]

Our first night in Newfoundland we boondocked at the Wreckhouse pull out. It was windy all night long and rocked us asleep.

I believe the sign there says they have recorded winds of 200 MPH.


early 80's one of my Pals had the camper shell blown off his p/u truck- he was carrying some heavy goods which made the truck more stable in the high winds, but maybe his clamps weren;t well secured...off it went.

Mike

 

[rtz]

but maybe his clamps weren;t well secured...off it went.

See 1:47 into this video for what might have happened: