All of us know what kinds of weather our home areas are likely to get, and the warning signs it’s coming. We have preps and plans to deal with those. (We do, right? If not, time to get on that.) Sometimes we’re not at home; and we can’t expect the weather to respect that and play nice. What sort of preps for bad weather are reasonable when we’re on the road? Salty and I talk it over in this podcast:
Not exactly what the tourists to Hawaii expected to be seeing this week…
Learn a little about the weather problems of the destination
I’m using ‘weather’ in this post as a stand-in for all extreme natural events, be they weather, volcanoes, tsunamis, whatever. What kinds of problems should you keep an eye out for? There are a quarter of a million tourists in Hawai’i right now, I read, and they’re getting pummeled by a massive hurricane. Are they ready to deal with that?
“In the desert, look for water” to quote an old Savatage song. In the mountains, hail and snow are likely even in high summer. Kansas has tornadoes; many coasts have hurricanes and monsoons. Japan’s chock full of earthquakes. If you know where the trouble spots are, you can prep for them.
In high areas …like the Yellowstone plateau … hailstorms are a common summer afternoon occurrence. The rain gear wasn’t an accident.
Some of these problems might not be clear to the newcomer. When we decided to spend a day paddling Lake Yellowstone, my friend Doc and I were not aware that unpredicted, sudden, potent windstorms are not at all rare, and can kick up waves Way bigger than one can handle in an open canoe.
Only the fact that we planned the excursion conservatively (knowing at least that we Were pretty ignorant of the area) kept that day an exciting excursion instead of a disaster. Once the motorboat arrived for our scheduled pickup, we learned that this kind of storm had ended a lot of lives on Yellowstone Lake. So…Talk to locals.
Provision of basic needs no matter the weather
When we travel, Salty and I often make a quick big-box store stop right after we pick up the car. If it’s a desert area, a case of bottled water goes in the car. (We tend to bring a filtering water bottle each everywhere. They reduce the expense and time waste of stopping for beverages a lot.)
We also pick up some non-perishable food for the car. In our case, the tradition is a loaf of bread and some goober grape, but that’s just because we tend to visit places with no restaurants and picnic lunches may happen anywhere and anytime.
The goober grape sandwich has gone to some spectacular places with Salty and I … and also serves as emergency rations.
We also make sure to have paper maps of the area. That’s saved our tails before, when many roads were closed by flooding late one Christmas Eve in Georgia. No gas stations or diners open, no hotels at all, all the routes the GPS liked closed … it would have been a long night without maps with some topographical information.
Another bare minimum requirement is a decent flashlight. If there’s a problem you don’t want to be burning your phone battery to try and see.
Some precautions depend on local weather threats
Near the coast in earthquake/volcano country? Look for tsunami evacuation routes. Heading over mountain passes? Snow and ice can close routes at any time of year, and can kill you quickly if you’re caught out) so enough supplies and warmies to be ok in the car for a while should be there before you go over passes. In desert country near dry stream beds, know how to get to higher land quickly, because flash floods are called ‘flash’ for a reason.
Keep an eye out for these as you enjoy a coastal vacation.
The point here is to get whatever preps are really necessary for the kinds of events that occur in your new area but do not give much warning.
Keep a weather eye out
If your trip plans are strongly impacted by weather (hello, hiking and photography vacations), you’re probably paying some attention to destination weather. If your plans aren’t weather-sensitive, you’re less likely to be plugged in to what’s going on. Make an effort.
You might sign up for weather alerts at your destination, or make it a point to check weather-related headlines once a day. If you use a dedicated weather site, other mundane news needn’t contaminate the ‘getting away from it all’ aspect of your trip.
For international travel, the STEP program can be valuable to U.S. citizens
The Smart Traveller Enrollment Program (STEP) is run by the U.S. State Department. It allows you to register your trip for free. If you do so, you can get alerts on ‘situations’ at your destination, including weather and safety advisories. It also lets the consulate know you’re around, which is helpful if you need to get out in a hurry.
In Alaska, you prepare for any type of weather. On a hunting trip, we where packed in on horse back during cool, dry fall weather. Unloaded gear, set up tent, fixed meal, and settled in for the night for an early start in the morning. 2AM tent came down due to snow. Fixed tent, went back to sleep. Woke up to two feet of snow on ground. Had the gear we needed to finish hunt.