If I were going to do this (and I'm not saying I recommend it) I would
take the more southerly route (I-15, I-40, I-44, I-55) passing through
Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis.
Perhaps my father simply didn't know any better but, when I was aged 13
and 15 (mid-1950's), we took driving trips from Battle Creek, MI at
Christmas time to visit my mother's family in Los Angeles. But the
interstate route I just outlined above didn't exist. We had to do most
of the trip on the old (and now famous) US route 66. Since it was
December and January there was clearly snow along almost all of the
route but I don't have any recollection of it except about 6" on the
ground in the Texas panhandle, Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Since we
lived in Michigan (pretty snowy) it may be that my father normally
carried chains. I don't remember. I'll have to ask him when he calls
this morning.
Anyhow, checking my favorite weather site <http://www.wunderground.com/>
which has pages for seasonal averages and records for rain and snowfall
for lots of cities around the country I don't see anything that looks
particularly problematic on that route except possibly Flagstaff.
<http://www.wunderground.com/NORMS/DisplayNORMS.asp?AirportCode=KFLG&SafeCityName=Flagstaff&StateCode=AZ&Units=none&IATA=FLG>
Average daily snowfall is only about 1" with a few 5" snowfalls last
year but the historic records show as much as 30" is possible although
most of the daily record highs are 1 foot or less.
All that said, I got caught myself in 1972, not crossing the snowy
plains states, but at Thanksgiving time traveling from Northern Virgina
to where I'm living now near Binghamton, NY via US 15 and I-81. The
trip normally required 5-1/2 hours. That time it took 23 hours with the
vast majority of that time stuck on I-81 in the Pocono mountains just
above Harrisburg, PA along with hundreds of other cars in what turned
out to be an unexpected two foot snowfall. Fortunately, I had just
filled the gas tank in Harrisburg and we were able to run the car
periodically to keep reasonably warm. We were otherwise totally unprepared.
I still do such trips and may drive to North Carolina to my daughters
house for Christmas but today we have the benefit of much better
communication and weather forecasting and, being retired, I don't have
to be anywhere at any particular time and can afford to put off or
accelerate my trip a day or two if the weather promises to be trouble.
Good luck,
Chuck Norcutt
siddiq@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Greetings all;
>
> I'm thinking of driving from Los Angeles to Chicago this month over
> the holidays. Last time was in the summer, so i've done the trip
> (I10>I15>I76>I80>I88). Question is, will I need snow chains passing
> thru Colorado this time of the year? If I need to then it kills the
> trip. Other things?
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