Caught in a light storm… Seek shelter somewhere, anywhere?

Hi All:

Quick question regarding inclement weather when out on the road or trail… I mean way out on the road?

With weather information available before most ride’s initiation whether from home, a hotel or the bush, I am sure most try and stay out of the worst of it by simply staying put and waiting it out before the start of the day’s adventure or finishing up early, well before the storm arrives.

What is your best course of action if you are simply caught out on the road w/ little info since the last fuel stop and a heavy storm with T-Storm warnings, Tornado Watches or heaven forbid a Tornado Warning is in your path and you are caught unaware? Duck under an overpass as I have seen riders do from time to time? Pull into the nearest gas station or diner and wait it out there? Turn around and head in a 90 degree direction from the storm front ahead?

I have been caught in hours and hours of moderate to heavy rain out East but for those riding across Tornado Alley for example, I can imagine this could be a somewhat “hair raising” experience let alone anyone that has been caught out in the T-Storm anywhere in the country while on the road or trail and far away from real shelter.



A lengthy ride last summer from Albany to the
NY/Canadian border and back down into NH. It
started to rain just north of the Lake Placid area,
all the way to the Canadian border and another
hour or so while heading back South…

Thanks in advance

Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG

Apparently using an underpass as a refuge in a tornado is BAD. The wind speeds pick up even faster as it squeezes thru the chute, and ppl have been ripped away from hanging onto the steel girder supports. I watched a car that was under one get sucked out and tossed into a field a LONG ways away from the underpass.

It depends where I am, what I'm caught in, and where I need to be.

I was fortunate to only get caught out in one big storm on my TAT trip, the first day in Tennessee it rained cats and dogs starting shortly after noon right after my first gas stop. At my next gas stop about 2 hours later, still raining, I stayed at the station for about an hour after checking the weather and seeing it was supposed to clear up (it did). I was soaked by everything eventually dried.

I dodged storms all across Mississippi but never got wet.

There were quite a few mornings where I'd wake up to rain or soggy looking skies and check the weather to see a morning thunderstorm rolling in quick, so I stayed put in my hotel room (which I got because I noticed the clouds forming the night before on the horizon) until it passed. At least once again in TN and twice in OK/KS.

My plan for Oklahoma (outbound) and Kansas (homebound), if caught in a bad t-storm, would be to high tail it to the nearest structure and wait it out. If I saw a tornado, I'd make a run for the nearest farm house or some other structure and hope for 1) people and 2) tornado shelter and pray they wouldn't turn away some idiot on a motorcycle. Once you're caught you're caught, you can't outrun a tornado or even some of the fast storms unless you're on the very edge.

My bad weather riding story was December 2009, riding on I-40 towards Kingman, AZ on the way home to Las Vegas. My V-Strom was fully loaded for camping the night before. It was freezing cold with winds gusting to 60 mph. I literally got blown off the road several times. Semi-trucks passing me in the left lane made matters worse. I thought about just pulling over, but it was getting dark and no sign of improvement. I finally hunkered down behind a large, slow-moving truck for the last 20 miles into Kingman. I pulled into town, gassed up and went to a nearby Denny's for a sit down. I shook in my boots for about 20 minutes, long after warming up. I think the fatigue and fear caught up with me. I finally decided on discretion as the better part of valor and took a motel room. I tied my bike to a concrete post with a steel cable so it wouldn't blow over and sat in my riding gear, in the room for 3 hours before deciding to drink instead of ride. I hit the road at dawn, still windy and 22 degrees F, much better. I hated feeling like I quit, but it was the right decision.

Hahaha.. nice topic.

Went for a lil jaunt in the hills yesterday and got caught in hail and some gnarly rain. Didn't have any rain gear with me, so i finally found a tree to hide under till the hail subsided. Rain i don't mind so much because dirt turns to mud, and Mud is Fun!!!

if sucked up in a tornado while riding your WR, all you need to do is grip the tank with your knees and use proper throttle control and ride the inside walls of the tornado around and around and around like the guys at the circus do in the round, steel cage. Oh, just watch out for flying cows!