Driving from Toronto in the winter....route/hotels/insane?

[roxysmum123]

My husband now has it in his head that we should drive down for our Christmas trip....heaven help me.

Who's experienced this drive in the winter? Is it generally still ok? I feel like last year there wasn't really any snow till Feb, but not sure how it was through the driving route...what kind of experiences have you had? Would this be a terribly risky decision?

Our trip is 2 weeks, so not overly worried about losing time on the way there/back as he has an unlimited vacation policy at work and I can work remotely (ie from the car) if necessary/delayed.

Which route is recommended, and what city/area would you stop in for the night?

Is this completely bananas?

 

[FigmentSpark]

We've only gone in March, but have encountered a few storms in our time. Not fun, but that's life. Once you get into N.C., your storm risk is much lower. We go through Pittsburgh (from GTA), but I know others like to avoid the mountains when there's a risk of weather issues.

 

[roxysmum123]

We've only gone in March, but have encountered a few storms in our time. Not fun, but that's life. Once you get into N.C., your storm risk is much lower. We go through Pittsburgh (from GTA), but I know others like to avoid the mountains when there's a risk of weather issues.

Thanks! Yes, I figure it's only risky up to a point...thanks for letting me know where that risk point kinda converts. Thank you

 

[Tndnknin]

We’ve gone in February twice. On one trip we hit some snow through Pennsylvania and Virginia which slowed us down a bit but didn’t stop us. The second trip was uneventful. It can be hit or miss. No you are not insane, especially if you have a flexible schedule .We have driven much more often than flying.

 

[Disneylover99]

We drive down through Virginia in the summer, but we took the I75 down a couple of years ago to go to Epcot for New Years. The weather was fine driving down. There was an ice storm/snow storm warning in Atlanta Georgia on the way home, but we had snow tires. It was nothing. I’d do it again.

 

[bankr63]

We don't select our final route (from Eastern Ontario) until we see the weather forecast a couple of days before. We have several routing options, and select the one with the least amount of weather forecast along it.

That doesn't always work however, sometimes weather changes rapidly. We stopped early in PA last year due to some unforecast snow. Glad we did based on the number of transport trucks in the ditches when we resumed the next morning.

Just be prepared to adapt to changing conditions and things will work out. Easiest way to do this is to have a few options planned out in advance.

 

[ontdvc2015]

We have driven down many times in Jan/Feb and have always had really good luck. We have driven down I79/77/26/95 a few times, and also down I75. Both have been good. Last Feb we ran into snow in Buffalo, it was a pretty good storm that slowed us down, but it maybe added 1 hour to our total drive. As Figment said, once your in NC, you don't have to worry much about the weather, or heck, even in the Virginia's they don't get the weather like us. We will be driving down this Feb with our travel trailer and staying at Fort Wilderness for 12 days. This one might be interesting if we hit any weather, but unless its a massive storm, it will typically just add a little extra time. Slow down and take your time and everything with be OK.

 

[Nightriders19]

We've done the drive in November, December, January and March. No issues at all. We generally just take I75 (leaving from Kitchener-Waterloo area). We went down through Virginia once and that was fine too.