Wind and closures on US-395

How wind works on this corridor

The Eastern Sierra funnels wind the way it funnels everything else, through a narrow corridor between a high crest and open desert. Spring is the season: strong Pacific systems crossing the crest drive downslope winds that hit the Owens Valley floor and the open stretches around Crowley Lake, Bridgeport, and the Walker River country in gusts that can push a high profile vehicle across a lane. Caltrans District 9 posts for it directly, and in a strong event the posting can cover most of the corridor at once. During the research for this site, the Caltrans feed carried a high wind prohibition for campers, trailers, and permit loads running from the Bishop area to Bridgeport, with tractor trailer combinations down to a 65,000 pound limit. That is not a rare event here; it is the corridor's spring signature.

The postings come in grades. An advisory means conditions are dangerous for high profile vehicles and Caltrans is telling you so in plain words. A recommendation against travel, the wording the signs use, is one step below a prohibition. A prohibition is a legal posting: campers, trailers, and permit loads named in it do not proceed, and truck combinations are limited by weight. When a prohibition is up, the honest move for an RV or a trailer is to wait in Bishop, Lee Vining, or Bridgeport. The wind here usually drops after the front passes, and every one of those towns is a better place to spend four hours than the shoulder of the Sherwin Grade.

Summer and fall trade wind for other closures: wildfire can close stretches near the road, flash flooding from thunderstorms crosses the highway in the desert washes south of Bishop's side of the corridor, and rockfall follows rain on the canyon walls. Those closures post in the same Caltrans feed and show in the list above the moment they are active. In every season the rule is the same: the live postings on this page outrank any plan made yesterday.

Driving the Nevada half, Reno to Carson City, has its own wind story through Washoe Valley. That stretch's live status and restrictions are on the US-395 page at i80pass.com.