I was traveling recently at nigntime and found myself in a complete "white-out" caused by very high winds and blowing snow. I literally could not see anything, let alone the road. There was no way to pull off because I didn't know where off was. I was afraid to stop because someone could hit me from behind. The car behind me passed and I was (barely) able to follow its tailights. If it had gone off the road, I am sure I would have followed it. With the weather people forecasting a rough winter ahead, I thought that tips from experienced winter weather drivers would be helpful to me and other people who travel by car.

Paul,

I have found myself in that situation a few times. Fortunately I have a pick-up with 4WD and a CB radio and rely on both. Because of the nasty language on the CB, I don't keep it on. However, 18 wheelers have been a tremendous help in these situations. They roll when other vehicles can't. The opposit bound trucks can tell you what it's like behind them and where the rest areas and pull offs are. When you are in snow areas, the temp. is below 32 degrees and there are heavy clouds ahead of you most of the time there will be snow. You are right, don't stop in the road. When you are caught in a white-out about the only thing you can do is follow the vehicle in front of you. My policy is "if in doubt, wait it out.

As a native of Syracuse NY (among the nation's snowiest cities - they've over 40 inches this year already) I've encountered these frequently. Even for those of us comfortable and experienced with driving in snowy conditions, it can be terrifying. I immediately slow down to a crawl and put on my flashers. Sometimes I'm fortunate enough to be on a limited access highways that has the corrugations known as "rumble strips" at the inner edge of the shoulder. I try to pull a few feet to my right until I hear my right front tires "rumbling" on the strip. I then drive very, very slowly using that as my guide or if I can see enough of the shoulder I pull over and wait for the wind to subsided just a bit. Whiteouts are typically caused by gusts and are intermittent. If they're of brief duration I try get behind a large truck and follow it - I assume (hopefully corrrectly) that htye typical truck driver is experienced at handling these. Just one thing - never ever stop in the driving lane no matter what - even blindly pulling over a few feet to hopefully find the shoulder is safer than stopping where you are.

The above advice is excellent. Note, however, that "white-out" does not usually occur suddenly and is generally predicted in the weather forecast on the radio. Whenever "white-out" is a possibility, it's best to find a place to wait it out at the very first indication that it's about to occur. Once "white-out" conditions occur, it's very scary indeed. You can't keep going and if you stop you could get hit by another moving vehicle. It's really not the best idea to follow the lights of another vehicle. They could suddenly run off the road, or worse. And, it's dangerous to follow another vehicle that closely in snowy conditions. If they stop suddenly...

Owen - I thought about those rumble strips and the next day I went back over that road and tried to hear/feel them. It appeared to me that there was too much snow on them and they had disappeared. Have you ever found that they weren't there on really snowy nights?

Donna - I agree with you about following other cars but if its the only thing you can see, I wonder if there is really a choice.

Paul: Given the situation, I'd rather try to pull off to the side of the road (turning my emergency flashers on and clearing the snow off the lights periodically, quickly) and risk getting hit from behind, rather than risk plowing into a large truck or other vehicle or running off the road.

Driving in the night in the snow is absolutely one of the worst nightmares. Obviously, one would do anything to avoid getting into that situation -- I've been on I81 in Penn. in that situation and was terrified because I knew there was a steep drop-off on the side of the road. We got to the next exit by driving at 5-6 MPH and I had my passenger roll down the window to see the side of the road as best he could and guide me. Sometimes you can see better at an angle to the beam of the headlights than you can looking directly ahead with them. High beams are often just the wrong thing to do.

But here are two things to remember if you have any control, whatsoever: first, rmember that the winds usually blow in one direction, often west to east during/after a storm. If so, you don't want to be on a north-south road. If you have a choice, try a route that you can drive that minimizes the amount of time you are driving perpendicular to the wind (i.e., if you are trying to drive north, try zig-zagging east-west/west-east). Sounds nuts and does take time, but like an old sailor, I found "tacking" like this helpful. Second: if you are in the mountains, sometimes just dropping a little altitude might land you up in rain or fog (e.g., in on I 81 in PA, get off it and travel on 'lower' roads 'til you get to a place to wait it out) -- not fun, but not as bad as snow.

To Paul - on the occasions that I've used the rumble strips as a guide the issue was more one of limited visibility due to wind rather than deep snow. When the snow is deep enough and falling fast enough I usually have just enough visibility to see the tire tracks in the road to guide myself. As for following the lights of another car - I agree there are are risks but in many cases it's the only option. As to the comment that whiteouts are "predictable"... I spent many years and miles of winter driving in Rt 81 in Central NY (Binghamton to Syracuse) and also logged many miles on back roads of the central NY hill country and the Finger Lakes area. Whiteouts on those areas do in fact come up unexpectedly on many occasions and it's difficult to "plan ahead". One must have a strategy in mind for coping with them when they occur - one reason why I think this is a helpful thread for winter travelers.

I'm not the most experienced snow driver, but I did get a good piece of advice when I was trying to learn to drive in snow. If you pull off the road, make sure you take your foot off of the brake and turn off your lights. I was told that keeping your brake lights on or tail lights on will encourage someone to follow you, and if you aren't moving, you'll get rear-ended.

Experienced drivers, did I get good advice?

Thanks to everyone for the tips and information. The road that I was on that night was a two lane highway (one lane in each direction) that went North/South. The wind was blowing East/West. This is the only road to get from point A to point B (a rural mountain area in Colorado). When I left point A the snow was falling and it was windy. There was no way to know that about one mile ahead the whiteouts would be there. I totally agree with Donna about pulling off of the road but, again, visabilty was literally zero; I could not see the side of the road to pull off of it and I was afraid that I would be stopping in the middle of it. I couldn't see any snow tracks either. I didn't have a passenger with me to help. Our other car has foglights and I wonder if those could have helped in this situation. I found out yesterday that the police closed the highway a few minutes after I reached my destination.

I have found myself driving in a couple of "white outs".
1. You don't always get advanced warning. I can drive in heavy snow, but not a white-out.
2. Pulling over to the side of the road can be impossible. (I once stopped at what I thought was the break down lane only to find myself in a travel lane.) Since there are no visible lines in the road, no one knows where the break down lane is. It many times becomes a travel lane. Also cars get buried on the side of the road by plows. You take the chance of being rescued in the spring.
3. Following tracks can also be impossible. Can't see them.
4. Following tail lights is the only way to travel until you get to a commercial place you can pull into.
5. The only way to safely navigate a white-out is with a lot of luck.
Paul you have luck.

These things are really rare where I live but I have had it happen, especially on the Plains.

One thing I would add, if you are driving *anywhere* in winter if these conditions are possible, it is best to check in by phone before you set out (telling your route), and then again when you arrive. If you don't show up or call in by a certain time after you should have, your contact can notify the Highway Patrol that you were on
that road and are missing.

Cindy - I think you got bad advice. First of all, you probably won't even know if you are really off the road or not. Secondly, other drivers will not know if they are on the road or not. So, if you are on the side of the road with all of your lights off, the chances are that someone won't see you and you will be hit. Many people have suggested to put on your emergency flashers in a white out situation and either go very very slow or try to pull to the side and stop (but keep the flashers on).

True enough, if you could plan ahead, you'd never get into that situation; and of course, you can't always avoid driving on the one road that's in trouble.

Re:fog lights. My own experience is that they can be helpful or they can be a major mistake. After all, each flake is a moving, reflective crystal that'll catch the light and flicker into your vision. Most often they are mounted low on the vehicle and shoot straight or even up a bit. You'll notice that snow plows almost always have lights on the highest part of the vehicle and they're aimed downward, which is much the best way to see the road through blowing snow. When I lived in Western NY, I seriously considered trying to have lights mounted on the roof of my car.

...and (sorry, slip of the mouse....)... what I have done on occasion is carry a large flashlight that I could aim out the window at a better angle than my headlights. Only used it once in fog, which is fortunate for the traffic in the on-coming lanes, since I imagine it would have been seriously confusing to see 3 lights coming at them!

Out here in Arizona, we have sandstorms at times that are much like a whiteout. If you can, pull off. Turn off your lights. When we lived in Iowa, the same good advice applied. But we learned in Iowa to carry some flares in the trunk. After you stop, set out the flares. Same applies here with sandstorms. Carry those flares and use them.