Whiteout from blowing snow, Minnesota, I-90

[dash riposki]

I'm not sure I'd run into conditions like this before, or at least over such an extended period of time? This is 'old' snow being blown by gusts of 50+ mph. Visibility would be good, road conditions good, then you would run into these every 5-10 minutes. Not much you could do but slow down, watch the edge of the pavement, and keep your eyes peeled for other vehicles stopped or slowed ahead. Usually the whiteout was over in a few seconds, until the next one a few minutes later. Over an over again. Traffic would speed up in the clear periods, then come to a near stop in the whiteouts. Not fun.

Lots of cars off of the road, and some appeared to have been there a while.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Nice video. You do experience the extremes in your job though

 

[dash riposki]

Extreme everything, except pay.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Extreme everything, except pay.

 

[Gibson99]

i like how the car you caught turned on his flashers AFTER you caught him. not even parking lights... zero common sense on some people these days.

 

[dash riposki]

Yeah, I knew it was up there, somewhere. It's hard to explain? 80-90% of the time the visibility was fine, and then you'd get some minor blowing snow. When the big stuff hit, it was like a wall of fog. No real warning.
HEADLIGHTS, please. Any time the visibility is questionable, even when only the pavement is wet or damp a bit.
You can't imagine how hard it is to see cars you pass when there is some spray, or your mirrors are gunked up. A silver or gray car is the worst. If the trucker or other vehicle bothers to look, you'll usually be able to see the headlights, not flashers, not parking lights.

The night before in the same kind of conditions, I ran up on a car in one of these whiteouts almost at a dead stop. Actually it was a minivan. They had some of the windows rolled down for some reason, could see people in the back seat. They were straddling the center line.
Tonight I was in a traffic backup due to 1/4 inch of snow that fell in an southern state. Of course, somebody managed to slide off the road, and traffic was terrified.
5 mph, bumper to bumper, both lanes blocked.
The car ahead of me had his 'magic 4 way flashers' on for miles. They're really important to have on in a traffic backup, going 5 mph, if you are signalling an alien spaceship that it's time for your annual 'probe' and want them to be able to find you.
All they did for me was make it harder to see the brake lights of 'flasher person' ahead of me.

 

[DT MI]

...
Tonight I was in a traffic backup due to 1/4 inch of snow that fell in an southern state. Of course, somebody managed to slide off the road, and traffic was terrified.
5 mph, bumper to bumper, both lanes blocked.
The car ahead of me had his 'magic 4 way flashers' on for miles. They're really important to have on in a traffic backup, going 5 mph, if you are signalling an alien spaceship that it's time for your annual 'probe' and want them to be able to find you.
All they did for me was make it harder to see the brake lights of 'flasher person' ahead of me.

Yeah, those folks down south have a real mental short-circuit when there's white stuff on the ground.

Can't say I'm not sympathetic - if I only saw those conditions once every 4 or 5 years, instead of growing up with it like I did, I can't say how I would handle it either.

 

[dash riposki]

I complain, but rather have them scared of it, and going slowly, than doing something really stupid. I was mostly pissed because it happened ten miles before the end of my trip.

Patience, you jerk.