Snow in the Mountains Means a Bad Day for Truckers

Well, Northern California is getting snow in the mountains this weekend. I've talked to my trucker friend a few times this weekend and he's not a "happy camper". If you take a look at the image to the left (A screenshot of the CalTrans Traveler Information page), you'll see that they are saying that I80 Westbound is closed to trucks. Well, that doesn't mean my friend can sit back and wait it out. For the simple reason that he's hauling the U.S. Mail, which means he doesn't stop, even if they block all the other trucks. He has to put chains on and run it anyway, he has to deal with the folks in cars, SUV's and pickups doing stupid things on the highway in front of him. For instance, this morning he had a guy in a SUV pass him and then suddenly change lanes and slow down right in front of my friend's truck. It's a good thing my friend was going slow (due to having max chains on his truck) because he was able to slow fast enough to not hit the idiot in the SUV.

Anyway, it's been a few hours since I heard anything from my trucker friend, so I figured I'd check out the traffic cams up on the hill. It looks nasty up there. I started from the Nevada end and worked my way "down the hill" with the cams. Take a look at the screenshot to the left. That is at the Truckee Scales. Normally, you can see the hills in the distance. Not today! Too much snow falling. The wind is blowing pretty good up there too, when you watch this camera, it really sways with the movement of the pole that the camera is on.

The next camera in line isn't working this afternoon. It's at the Ag Station on the Westbound side of the highway. Thats where you have to stop and tell them where you're coming from and what kind of agricultural products you're carrying when you're coming into California.

After you pass the Ag Station, you get into the city of Truckee. So the next camera is at the junction of I80 and Highway 89 which is in Truckee. Lots of snow, huh? If you're watching the camera live, you can really see the snow blowing past the lens of the camera!

I am glad I'm not up there in that mess. I'm sitting here in the comfort of my living room, listening to the rain and wind outside. I feel sorry for the truckers that have to travel in that stuff up on the mountains during storms like the one we're having today! I'm also very thankful that when I drove trucks way back when, I drove for a company that had a "no chain" policy for the cross-country drivers. We carried the chains, but the company wanted us to find a spot to wait out the chain controls rather than put them on and run. My partner and I spent a lot of time in truckstops waiting for weather conditions to improve back then.

The next view is a bit further west at Kingvale. The traffic on the lower section of the road is going westbound. You can barely see the upper/Eastbound side through the snow flying. Although, if you look close right next to the "E" in Kingvale, you'll see the taillights of a car headed east. I was almost tempted to give my trucker friend a call to see where he was when I saw that white truck headed west. I decided not to distract him though, so I have no clue where he is on the hill.

Are you glad that you are sitting in the warmth of your home looking at these pictures on your computer instead of having to drive in that lovely white stuff? lol..

Ok, the next camera is the one at Whitmore Grade. This one puzzled me for a long time because I couldn't quite figure out where the camera was. In a previous post on this blog, I posted a map or two trying to show where it is. I wish Caltrans had a camera on the Eastbound side as well, but I'm guessing that this location is where a camera is needed since I've seen a number of spinouts and such when I'm watching it.

Anyway, you can see all the traffic trying to make it back down into the Sacramento Valley. And all the snow blowing around. No spinouts yet, but I'm sure there will be one or two before the day is over.

This is the last screenshot for today. It's at Crystal Springs and I added it in because of the fellow at the back of the truck over there on the left. I watched the poor guy putting the chains on the wheels of his truck. And watched a few idiots in cars that seemed to try to get as close to him as they could. Dummies...

One of the things that struck me as I watched the cameras today was that I saw very few plows or sand trucks running. My trucker friend's favorite rant about Caltrans is the lack of plows running down the road. He says that he sees more plows and sand trucks sitting alongside the road than he sees on the highway itself. What the heck are those guys doing? Napping?

Snow in the Mountains = Truckers Curse

California is finally getting some snow up in the mountains and my trucker friend isn't a "happy camper". Yesterday he had a long day dealing with the snow up there and it looks like today is going to be a repeat. I just got off the phone with him and he said that he's already had to put the chains on (and take them off) twice getting up the hill this morning! He's definitely dreading the trip back down the hill this afternoon!

Anyway, since his call, I've been playing with the live cams on the CalTrans website. (It's been a while since I watched them. Like last winter when I was his weather/road conditions info person.) The first screenshot looks pretty good. That's at the Whitmore Grade showing the westbound lanes. Road looks pretty good, doesn't it? Pavement is a little wet and there's just a bit of snow on the shoulders. Ahhh.. But wait until you get a little further up the hill! It gets whiter!




Here's the Caltrans camera at Kingvale. The snow is deeper at the sides of the roads and the lanes aren't as clear. This is one of the spots where my trucker friend had to put the chains on this morning. I guess it was pretty nasty between Kingvale and the Donner Lake interchange. I'm not quite sure where he had to put the chains on the truck the second time. With the mood he's in, I was afraid to ask! lol... (And, no.. Neither of the trucks in this screenshot is his! lol)




A bit further up the road, there is a camera on I80 at the highway 89 interchange which is in Truckee. Again, it doesn't look that bad in the camera shots, but apparently the pavement has ice on it. And again, I don't know if this is one of the areas he had to have the chains on. A short while back, he and I went up to Reno for a couple days and on our way up, he pointed out most of the cameras that I've viewed from the Caltrans site plus quite a few more that I've never seen listed on the site.



Caltrans has done some shifting around of available cameras this year. I don't remember seeing this one last year. I'm not quite sure of the position of it, whether we're looking at I80 or if we're looking at highway 267. It seems to be a pretty busy road, though. By looking at a map, it seems to be just down the road a bit from the highway 89 interchange camera. I guess I will have to take a drive up to Truckee one of these days and see if I can spot this one. lol




This camera is a "new" one and I'll have to keep an eye on this camera to see if the snow and ice on the lens clears up later so I can get a screenshot from it. I have no clue which direction it's pointing or what we're supposed to see. The description of the camera says that it's at the Ag Station on I80, which means it's at the inspection area where you have to stop and tell the folks where you're coming from and whether or not you're carrying agricultural products.




There were a couple of the cameras not working this morning. The one at the Truckee truck scale and the one at Floriston. I'll check them out later on today, maybe. Here's a list of the I80 cameras from the Caltrans site, go check them out!;

• 80 at Applegate
• 80 at Colfax
• 80 at Crystal Springs
• 80 at Dutch Flat
• 80 at Whitmore Grade
• 80 at Kingvale
• 80 at 89
• 267 at 80
• 80 at Truckee (Ag Station)
• 80 at Truckee Scales
• 80 at Floriston

Update 1:20pm
Just a quick update. I got another call from my trucker friend. Poor guy. He is stuck in Reno with an "out of commission truck". One of the brake lines on the truck went bad and he can't release the trailer brakes so he's stuck at the loading dock at the Post Office distribution center there in Reno until a mechanic gets out there to fix the problem. It looks like he'll be spending the night in the truck up there. What a way to start your "weekend" huh? His "weekend" normally starts on Sunday night, but he's going to have to stay up there and drive down tomorrow, so the first day of his weekend will be gone. I took a look at the CalTrans camera in Truckee again and it looks like even if he were able to drive, he'd still be stuck. Traffic is at a complete standstill in Truckee and it's been that way for a while now. Somebody must have pulled a really bad boo-boo on the highway west of Truckee.

More snow on I80!

Updated!

My trucker friend called to find out what the snow was like in the pass. He's on his way back West again having made his drops in Reno and beyond. It looks like a mess up there. CalTrans road conditions page says chains are required, but they are holding trucks at the Nevada State line. Normally my friend is exempt when they close the roads to trucks because he's carrying the mail, so we'll see what happens. I checked all the cameras, as usual, and it really looks nasty up there.

The camera at the Truckee scale is wobbling really bad because of the wind and there is a lot of snow blowing sideways. For the few minutes I watched the camera, I didn't see a single truck, so they must be holding most of them.

Hmmm... Now that I have a screen shot posted, I see a truck going through the scale.. Fed Ex, of course.. lol




They've got definite problems at the Hwy. 89 and I80 junction. The Eastbound side of the highway is moving slower than a person could walk. According to the CHP site, they had a multiple vehicle mixup. No injuries, thank goodness. I've been watching this camera for about 15 minutes now and it doesn't look like there's going to be any let up in the traffic for a while.




The Kingvale camera is almost completely whited out with the snow and ice packed on it. Once in a while I can see a dark shadow move by where I know the road is, but you sure can't tell it's a car from the view on the camera!

The Whitmore camera looks very similar to the screen shots from yesterday. It doesn't even look like the wind is blowing very much there. Just lots of snow covered cars on the road heading towards the camera.

One of these days I'm going to have to try timing the screen shots for when my trucker friend is passing by. I've actually seen him on one or two of the cams when we've been on the phone at the same time.. He tells me "Look quick, I see the camera!" and yep.. There he goes.. White truck and grayish trailer.. lol

The weathermen were predicting that this storm would be kind of like the one we had back in the beginning of January. High winds, lots of rain, etc. During the January storm, the power went out and stayed out for quite a while. The little town where I am was without power for nearly a day but since the PG&E maintenance yard is here in town they jumped right on it and got the lights back on. But outlying areas were without power for days. This time, so far, all the power has done is blink a couple times. It triggered the alarm on my battery backup for my computer, but we haven't lost power so far. I've got my fingers crossed that we don't end up in the dark again. Last time my freezer started defrosting before my next door neighbor hooked me up to his generator. This time, well, I've got my fingers crossed!

Update 3:20pm
I just got another call from my trucker friend. That traffic mess in the 89/80 junction camera? The traffic mess is still there... In the camera, and in my friend's view. He's stuck in that mess. The CHP site says that they have a major boggle up near the vista point. That is miles from where the camera is. Poor guy is going to have a very long day. The camera is still showing a stop and go crawl on that side of the highway.

Update 10:35pm
My trucker friend called again. The interstate is still technically closed, but they've got enough of it clear to let the trucks carrying the mail get moving again. He says that the blowing snow is really bad. But the road has been "cleared" some by the plows. Poor guy started his day at 4am this morning. Then sat at the side of the road West of Truckee for nearly 8 hours. It's days like today that make me a bit happy that I'm not driving rigs anymore. I can sit here in my house, in front of my computer with a hot cup of coffee and surf the net. If I was still driving, who knows where I'd be...
Anyway, I thought I'd put one last screen shot in for today. Here's the Truckee Scale again. Lonely, quiet and cold. The camera isn't shaking nearly as bad as it was earlier. But there's still a bit of snow blowing sideways now and then. Brrrr.....

Snow on I80!

I said I'd look at the CalTrans live cameras again this afternoon. I did. It's definitely snowing up there now. The wind the weatherman predicted hasn't started up yet, they're saying it'll start blowing hard later this evening or tonight. Anyway, the CalTrans road info page is showing chains are required up there too... Of course the CHP dispatch page isn't saying anything about chains, but they've got quite a few accidents/spinouts on thier page at the moment. So, here we go with screen shots from the cameras again, just for comparison with the ones from this morning. Oh yeah, while I was waiting on each camera for a view that I wanted a screen shot of, I didn't see a single plow running. I guess they're waiting for the snow to pile up some more.

Here's the Whitmore Grade camera. Lots of traffic moving very slow. I have a hunch the road is either very slick or there is something happening behind the camera.

Here's the Kingvale view. Nasty, huh? Some of the "white out" condition you see is due to the ice and snow on the camera, but most of it is the snow flying!










I decided to show a couple more cameras, this one is at the junction of highway 89 and I80. It's sort of between the city of Truckee and the truck scales. Lots of gunk on the camera in this view.. And very few cars at the moment I hit "print screen".












I had to sit and wait for some cars to show up in this one. It was a very boring picture of just the road and no cars... Look at all the snow on the access ramp into the scale. Brrr....










This is the other "extra" cam that I decided to grab a screen shot from. Normally when I'm looking at this one, I don't see snow on the ground like today. The snow elevation is dropping fast, I guess. Believe it or not, that flat white area right in front of the camera is the on and off ramp for the town of Floriston.

CalTrans Live Cameras

I had questions about the locations of the cameras that CalTrans has up on I80 in the mountains. Most of the locations of the cameras in their list are fairly easy to find on google maps, since they are in or near towns that are easily looked up on a map. One of the cameras gave me a problem, though. The Whitmore Grade camera. I asked a couple people and got a general description of where the camera is. I used the Google Earth program and zoomed in on I80 as it climbed up into the pass and I think I've got it placemarked now.

As you drive East up I80, once you get past the town of Alta, the highway splits for a distance. Eastbound and Westbound lanes are a distance apart, and in the middle you see a group of buildings. Those are the dorms and barns for the snow removal and maintenance equipment for CalTrans. (Or so I've been told!) I was told that the Whitmore Grade is there. Oh, and as far as I can tell, it's in Placer County. If I'm wrong, I'd appreciate it if someone could correct me! lol

Update! I've uploaded a different map showing where I think the camera is for the Whitmore Grade. One of these days I'll have to take a drive up in the pass and see if I can spot the location. When the weather improves, that is.


This is the view from the Whitmore Grade camera this morning. The road looks pretty good today, compared to yesterday. But we're supposed to have a pretty bad storm coming in this weekend, so conditions will change. For the worst. This is one of the cameras that I regularly check when my trucker friend calls for a road condition report.






One of the other cameras that I normally check when he calls is the one at Kingvale. This morning's view from the camera looks a little nasty because of the snow and ice on the camera itself. When the snow is falling, the position of the camera makes it kind of hard to see the road because the snow and ice packs up on the lens or whatever is in front of the camera. Lots of snow up there this morning, but the road looks clear. The camera is looking towards the West, and the Westbound lanes are up above the Eastbound lanes.



The third camera that I check most often is the one at the truck scales just East of Truckee, Ca. It looks towards the East at the access ramp going into the scales, but you can see the Westbound lanes as well. I've actually spotted my friend's truck passing by this camera a few times as he heads towards Reno.







We're supposed to be having a doozy of a storm coming in this weekend. High winds, rain and snow in the mountains. I'll have to check back in and do some more screen shots when the storm hits.

CalTrans has a lot of cameras in their list. Just go to Caltrans Live Traffic Cameras, scroll down the page, pick a highway and then pick a camera. Have fun!

This is the original map I had above for the location of the Whitmore Grade camera. I had the marker on the wrong side of the highway. As I said in the update above, maybe later this spring or early summer I'll take a drive up in the pass and see if I can spot the cameras and get them marked on a map properly.. lol

Snow in the Pass Again

A while back I posted about the snow in the Sierras with a rant about CalTrans and the CHP not talking. Well, it's snowing again in the Sierras today. And, again, CalTrans and the CHP aren't communicating. Here's a view from the live camera at the Whitmore Grade... Looks a bit snowy, right? The road doesn't look that bad, so maybe it's ok to go? Maybe?






So I check the CHP dispatch site... Nothing being said about chain controls. Cool! It must be okay to run, right?


So, I check the CalTrans website for the road conditions....... What? Chains are required? Oh boy......










I am not going to call my trucker friend and ask him what the radio is saying. He has a constant rant about CalTrans and how they handle the snow up in the pass. He says that he sees the plows and sand trucks sitting along side the road or on an offramp more than he sees them plowing. All I can do is tell him what I see on the websites...
**sigh**

CalTrans, CHP and truckers.....

Oh the frustrations.... I just got a call from my trucker friend. He's heading west out of Reno, NV and wanted to know what the road conditions are coming down Donner Pass. So I click on my usual bookmarks, Caltrans Road Conditions and CHP Traffic Incidents to check what the chain controls are. The Caltrans page says that Westbound I80 is closed to trucks due to snow, but the CHP page says absolutely nothing about closing the road, nor does it give chain requirements on either page! No chain controls listed for any vehicles? But they've closed the road? Weird. So I tell my trucker friend what the pages say.... And then I go look at the Caltrans Live Traffic Cameras page and click through a few of the cameras. I tell him what I'm seeing, Floriston looks good, the Truckee Scales looks ok, Kingvale looks like a mess, the Whitmore Grade isn't much better, but the rest of the way down just looks wet. He's got the Caltrans radio on and they're just telling him to tune to station such and such and they're giving NO information at all!

Why the heck aren't Caltrans and CHP talking to each other? lol... Sometimes I am glad that I'm not driving a rig anymore!

Here's a screenshot of the lovely snowy view from the Whitmore Grade camera:


See the big rig on one shoulder? And the SUV on the opposite shoulder? According to the CHP website, they had a bit of a fender bender between them. Later shots from the camera show the SUV pulling away and the CHP site says they're waiting for the big rig tow to come help the trucker get out of the snow bank at the side of the road... Frustrations for the trucker? You bet... I'm glad I'm not up there.