Winter Storm Xanto!

Good Morning to ya Road Crew! This trip might prove to be an interesting one for sure. Just last week we were enjoying some perfect 75 degree temperatures, bright sun, and rich blue skies in California. If you look at our current trip map, you will see we are headed right back into winter – not only colder temps, but smack dab into a major winter storm named XANTO! We will literally be running just ahead of it Thursday but it appears it will catch up with us on Friday and Saturday bringing high winds and potentially very heavy snow and blizzard conditions. I will be making several checks on the local weather radars and keeping tabs of the latest highway road conditions as we roll along. If you have watched our past broadcasts of Montana Winter driving, you know how ugly it can get! At one point, the Weather Channel tapped into our LIVE! broadcast as we were driving through some bad visibility and ice packed Interstates. In the event that you hear of the Weather Channel, or any other real-time news outlets, wanting permission to use or (re)broadcast our video feed, simply point them to the MEDIA RELEASE Page located in the top menu bar. As we roll through the States of Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and the backroads, remember that there will be alot of times where we cannot find a strong enough signal to broadcast. When you factor in that the weather will probably be bad, more travelers will be using their cell phones and tablets to check weather and road conditions. Since data towers actually have a priority on the accessibility of their towers, all emergency services and voice calls have a higher priority than uploading a video stream (broadcast). It is during those times that the still image camera (Snowman Cam) can provide you with near real time images of what it looks like out our windshield since it can upload a single image using even slow dialup or weak signals. You can also keep up with my whereabouts with the website’s GPS data driven map, trip tracker, compass, speedometer, and weather widget. Looks like it’s time to dig out the gloves and heavy jacket again! Let’s hope for a safe passage through to delivery in Wisconsin! UPDATE. .. Because of the snow and temperatures already in the area, I have decided to take Interstate 15 North. We stand a better chance of the roads being salted or plowed and the roads will be wider giving more  wiggle room than the single lane backroads. (Image comes from Weather.com)