Syracuse and Cincinnati are fairly large cities for their region of the world, and are also home to eponymously named universities. Not only that, both are rivals and in the same conference, so buses filled with college students have made this 9 hour + trip in the past. It's a 573 mile trip for the Orange to go face the Bearcats, and we will cover the ground at a rate of 61.2mph. (I wouldn't have thought of the universally correlation had it not been for the fact that I found the picture of Cincinnati on a Syracuse fan site).
Fortunately, as we leave Syracuse, it won't be a wintry scene like in the picture above. There will be a weak cold front trying to push through the area, and there could be some lingering fog and clouds as we make our way to I-90. Our entire route takes us through a slot of dry air behind the front, so as we skirt Lake Erie, we should be in for fine driving conditions. Winds off the Lake will keep the air pleasant as well, so we won't mind stopping for gas or rolling down the windows before we head southwest from Cleveland. The stationary part of the front that had passed through Syracuse will become active in the evening, and is expected to be draped right over Cincy, and the threat for a thunderstorms will creep into the picture after we pass south of Wilmington. The thunderstorms will continue training through Cincinnati long after we arrive.
Directions from Syracuse to Cincinnati.
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Today's (or rather tomorrow's) road trip will be interesting, as we'll be running parallel to the track of a potential tropical system in the Gulf for a good 6-7 hours. It's a 364 mile trip that we'll cover at a rate of 53.8mph, mostly because there is little interstate between the two cities. Let's do a little hurricane hunting, then.
With the northeasterly flow ahead of that system in the Gulf, much of our route will see an infusion of dry air that will make the trip slightly more tolerable, but at the same time will allow temperatures to climb into triple digits. The Air conditioner will be wonderful. There could be a couple of isolated thunderstorms popping up in Texas, but they will wait until we are well into Louisiana before they kick up. Oppressively hot when we reach Alexandria.
Directions from Austin to Alexandria
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We haven't taken a road trip in about a week and a half. Thankfully, gas prices are coming down, and we're going to be able to take this 829 mile trip in about a day and a half. We'll motor along at 63.6, which will net us 509 miles on that first day. Let's move on out of Lafayette before gas reaches 9 dollars a gallon.
DAY ONE
It's a pretty quiet pattern nationwide, and the only real system is pushing into New England. Sure, there are severe thunderstorms in the Lafayette area now, but by the time we leave tomorrow, it's just going to be high pressure for miles until we reach Gieseck, Arkansas, a few exits past Memphis. Some air mass type thunderstorms are possible, but it's nothing to lose sleep over.
DAY TWO
Thunderstorms will continue south of our route, but all that Gulf moisture is not anticipated to filter north into our route area, leaving with mid 90 temps and high dew points. Sounds like a good day for the air conditioner, and maybe a stop at a Sonic in Texarkana. Continued heat and humidity for like, 4 more months when we arrive in Marshall.
Directions from Lafayette to Marshall.
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This marks the second time we will have a trip manfesting in Enid and ending in Pennsylvania. This go around, the trip to York will be about 2 1/2 days, covering 1313 miles. We'll be able to cover 508 miles a day, while driving at 63.5 mph. Let's retread some previously seen country.
DAY ONE
It's interesting. Our route takes us from one fairly small town to another (heck, judging from the picture, Enid's probably not even real) but on the first day, we'll end up right in downtown St. Louis. An extremely slow moving front which is losing a lot of it's identity as it moseys through the center of the country thanks to some high dew points bleeding into the cold pool could bring just enough instability to southern Missouri to provide for a very isolated shower or thunderstorm from Marshfield to St Louis, but mostly, it will be partly cloudy skies the entire lengh of the drive.
DAY TWO
It sounds strange, but a tropical low off the South Carolina coast will have a sizable impact on the drive on Day 2. What sounds stranger still is that the low will keep the area dry. See, another low will be scooting just to the north of our route through the Great Lakes will be robbed of it's moisture by the circulation well to the southeast. Instead, the low o the north will have a tough time swinging a cold front south into Illinois and Indiana, and we'll stay warm but mostly dry for the day Sunday. the day ends in the hills of eastern Ohio, in the town of Middlebourne.
DAY THREE
There could be some patchy fog in the valleys of western Pennsylvania as we get started on Monday, but it will burn off early in the morning. The system over the Great Lakes will merge with the one over the Gulf Stream, and move quickly away from York, meaning dry, sunny conditions upon our arrival.
Directions from Enid to York
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For me, this road trip from beach to beach is one that seems a lot shorter than it actually is. In fact, the drive is a 1371 mile journey that will last well into a third day. We'll be moving at a clip of about 63.7 mph, which will allow us to cover 509 miles on the first couple of days. A hot trip that seems to last a lot longer than it should. This sounds like a recipe for a cranky car ride.
DAY ONE
A cold front lingering along the coast will have a tough time moving off the coast, with dew points lingering, allowing for some pretty good moisture and the chance for rain showers, especially between Florence and Aiken. The big issue early will be some poor visibility before temperatures come up and burn off the fog. After we clear the front, however, we'll be in some unseasonably subsident air after we cross the Georgia line. Basically, it's going to be sunny and warm all the way to exit 11 off of I-85 east of Montgomery, Alabama, which I can say from experience has a very nice Hampton Inn.
DAY TWO
An area of high pressure will continue to linger through the southeast, paving the way for a mostly dry route from Montgomery to Sulphur, which is a western suburb of Lake Charles, Louisiana. the trailing tail of a dwindling cold front will protrude into the Sabine Pass area along the Texas/Louisiana border. What does that mean for us? Showers and thunderstorms will be possible after we pass through Crowley and continuing until we reach Sulphur.
DAY THREE
The drive from Sulphur to Corpus Christi won't be influenced by any large scale features, no lingering boundaries, no tropical waves, nothing like that. Just a blob of air mass thunderstorms from Beaumont to Victoria. The nature of these type of storms mean that we could be just towards the coast enough that we won't see anything, or we could see torrential downpours along the entire route along US 59.
Directions from Myrtle Beach to Corpus Christi.
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Time for another road trip once again, and we'll be on the road for 2 and a half days, covering 1249 miles. This means we'll be moving at 62.7 miles per hour, which will allow us to net 502 miles a day. I think this may also be the greatest change in elevation from beginning to end. Let's go ahead and plummet.
DAY ONE
The first day of travel is through a dusty part of the world, but frankly will not be all that dusty. Disturbances and monsoonal flow over New Mexico will have moistened the dirt in southern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, and to a lesser extent, western Texas. Any rain that we will see on Sunday will be in New Mexico, but it will not be widespread if we see it at all. We'll get off the beaten path quite a bit on this day, and will end up in Acme, Texas after our first day of driving, which is in between Childress and Quanah, if you know where either of those cities are.
DAY TWO
The second day of travel will take us into greener country. Greener and muggier. We'll get out of the plains of north Texas and move into the Big Piney Woods of east Texas before hitting Shreveport and turning south. Monday will end in Zimmerman, Louisiana, about three hours out of our destination in New Orleans. A combination of a ridge over the center of the country and seabreeze forcing will trigger some showers over northern Texas as we wake up, and then later as we arrive in Zimmerman, where some showers and storms are possible late in the day.
DAY THREE
In the summer, there is typically a lack of flow changes in the Gulf Coast. Cold air simply can't be cycled far enough to the south. Southern Louisiana then sees bubbly air mass thunderstorms pretty much all day. That being said, a low over the Gulf Stream is looking to drive air south and off the coast. All this adds up to a nice, pleasant (for summer in New Orleans) arrival.
Directions from Colorado Springs to New Orleans
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These road trips always seem to come in bunches, and again, we're having back to back trips. We're retuning to the Great Lakes/Mid-Atlanticish area, heading to Williamsport. It's a trip that will cover 1317 miles over the course of about 2 1/2 days. The first two days will see us traverse 513 miles at a rate of 64 mph. IT's going to feel almost like Spring with cooler temperatures invading much of the country, so that will make for some nice driving.
DAY ONE
The first day of driving will likely be quite nice, with clear skies highlighting much of the trip as high pressure takes hold in the center of the country. After we enter Missouri near Joplin, temperatures will begin to drop off, as the area has been covered with clouds for the past several days, and that low over the area was cold core, and since it stuck around for so long, it might as well leave a bit of cooler air in the center and eastern parts of the country. It will be good driving, with the windows down. Of course, the days drive will end in East St. Louis, Illinois, so be sure to roll those windows back up. And lock the doors.
DAY TWO
I can't say as we've ever ended a day mid trip in Ohio, but today is that lucky day, as we'll find ourselves in Burbank, Ohio, which is just west of Akron and decidedly safer than East St. Louis. The day will be warmer overall, but not as hot as our start in Oklahoma, as a cold front begins to move south towards our route. We won't have to deal with it on Wednesday, but hey, it could be an interesting conversation starter when we stop for gas.
DAY THREE
The front will advance to precariously close to our route, with the best chance for shower activity sneaking in along the stretch of highway running between Youngstown, Ohio and Clarion, Pennsylvania. We should be moving quick enough that we will stay ahead of the storms for the rest of the day, and arrive in Williamsport a couple of hours ahead of the cold front.
Directions from Enid to Williamsport.
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To start the weekend, we'll be departing from one college town to another. That's right, the 873 mile trip from the home of Notre Dame University to the home of Northern Oklahoma College-Enid Campus will last us into a second day. The driving will be done at a rate of 64.2 mph, which will allow us to cover 514 miles on the first day. College road trip!
DAY ONE
An area of low pressure over the northeast will continue to ferry in areas of rain throughout much of the east. Good thing we're heading to the west the, eh? After a mostly cloudy start in South Bend, conditions will begin to clear up and warm up as we head west and south after we reach Chicago. The day's drive will take us through Chicago and St. Louis (unfortunately right around rush hour) and into central Missouri. The stop for the night will be in Stoutland, between Rolla and Lebanon. It should have the makings for a fairly warm night, so the air conditioner will be appreciated.
DAY TWO
A nice little ridge will establish itself in the center of the country, warming things up for almost everyone, including ourselves. If there is any cooler, saving grace, it's that part of the drive on Tuesday will take us through the Ozarks. Even that won't do a whole lot to cool ourselves, to temperatures in the 80s and 90s will be the norm for the day. We'll get to Enid right in the hottest part of that day as well, so that's nice.
Directions from South Bend to Enid.
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Our road trip today takes us from the Appalachians to the Midwest. It's a 373 mile drive that will take a little over 6 hours. That comes down to an average speed of 61mph, which is fairly slow, considering much of the day will be spent on the interstate. It promises to be a stormy drive, which will be great, rolling through the mountains.
Overnight, the thunderstorms across the east will taper off, but a weak boundary developing in western Ohio will generate the occasional thunderstorms similar to what is being seen today across the area. We should be able to make it all the way through West Virginia without seeing any wet weather, but the same can't be said for Ohio. The thunderstorms will begin popping up in Ohio in the early afternoon and will rush south to meet us near Marietta. These storms could be a bit stronger than anything being seen today, given more substantial forcing. The hit or miss thunderstorms will mostly be to the south of Canton when we arrive around 4 in the afternoon, but an umbrella is still encouraged.
Directions from Roanoke to Canton |
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We're taking a fairly short little road trip today between two central Pennsylvania towns. The trip of 137 miles will last us about 2 1/2 hours traverses the central PA Appalachians, so we will only be moving at a rate of 54.3 mph, despite quite a bit of time on the interstate. Plenty of time for sightseeing and avoiding Amish piloted buggies.
A low over Canada is providing bands of moisture through the eastern US that are mostly disorganized. Right now, the models are hinting at one of those surface waves parking itself over the Harrisburg area during the time of our departure, meaning we could have a stray shower making for wet roadways and windshields until we reach the Tuscarora Tunnel. We'll be in variable cloudiness, more cloudy than not, but if the models are any indication (and they very well may not be) the arrival in Johnstown will be dry, at the very least.
Directions from Harrisburg to Johnstown
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