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Corridor weather planner: snow, freeze and heat by month
Pick a freight corridor and a month. The page shows how many days an average year brings snow, hard freezes, 90 F heat or heavy rain at the metros along it, and turns that into expected lost days and dollars from your own assumptions.
30-year normalsNOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, monthly, airport stations36 metros on 12 corridorsRetrieved Oct 10, 2026, 05:56 UTCretrieved Oct 10, 2026
Read this first
Normals are 30-year averages for one airport station per metro. They are not a forecast, they miss mountain passes and the road between the metros, and snow data is blank for some stations. Use them to choose when to build slack into a schedule, not to decide whether to drive today.
Choose a corridor, a month and a measure
Click a corridor on the map or use the lists. The lines recolour for the month and measure you pick. Grey dashed means no data.
Chicago to Dallas, Jan: days with 1 inch or more of snow
- None or very few
- Some
- Many
- Most
Straight lines between waypoint metros, not roads. No base map.
Pre-filled values are Example data.
Worst waypoint in that month
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- Coverage
- -
- Expected days on your trip
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- Expected cost
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Pick a corridor.
Formula: expected days = days on the road x average share of the month at the waypoints with data. Cost = expected days x share that stops you x cost of a lost day. Integer cents, rounded once. Nothing you type leaves this page.
Snow, by corridor and month
Days per month with 1 inch or more of snow at the worst waypoint on each corridor.
| Corridor | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago to Dallas | 3.6 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
| Los Angeles to Dallas | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 |
| Atlanta to Newark | 2.1 | 2.0 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.2 |
| Chicago to Denver | 3.6 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 2.2 |
| Denver to Seattle | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 3.8 |
| Seattle to Los Angeles | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 |
| Chicago to Boston | 7.5 | 5.5 | 3.6 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 6.0 |
| Laredo to Minneapolis | 3.3 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.9 | 3.3 |
| Houston to Atlanta | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 |
| Memphis to Philadelphia | 2.8 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.7 |
| Seattle to Minneapolis | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 3.3 |
| Miami to Chicago | 3.6 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.2 |
Each cell is the highest 30-year average among the waypoint metros for that month. Darker means more days. Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, retrieved Oct 10, 2026.
Heat, by corridor and month
Days per month at 90 F or more at the worst waypoint on each corridor. Matters for reefer fuel, tires and driver hours.
| Corridor | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago to Dallas | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 6.9 | 22.3 | 28.7 | 27.6 | 16.2 | 3.6 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
| Los Angeles to Dallas | 0.0 | 0.1 | 2.1 | 10.2 | 23.6 | 29.4 | 30.8 | 30.7 | 28.4 | 16.8 | 1.4 | 0.0 |
| Atlanta to Newark | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 2.1 | 10.3 | 18.0 | 13.7 | 5.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Chicago to Denver | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.7 | 8.6 | 18.8 | 13.8 | 4.2 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Denver to Seattle | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 10.3 | 24.3 | 21.4 | 5.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Seattle to Los Angeles | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 5.3 | 12.3 | 20.6 | 19.7 | 13.8 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 0.0 |
| Chicago to Boston | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 4.1 | 6.5 | 3.8 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Laredo to Minneapolis | 0.3 | 1.9 | 8.0 | 15.3 | 23.8 | 29.4 | 30.3 | 30.7 | 24.0 | 17.5 | 2.8 | 0.4 |
| Houston to Atlanta | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 9.5 | 23.1 | 27.3 | 27.1 | 18.3 | 5.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Memphis to Philadelphia | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 3.1 | 15.5 | 22.1 | 20.2 | 10.2 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Seattle to Minneapolis | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 2.9 | 13.7 | 12.2 | 2.8 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Miami to Chicago | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 2.1 | 8.4 | 16.2 | 23.8 | 24.7 | 14.8 | 4.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 |
Each cell is the highest 30-year average among the waypoint metros for that month. Darker means more days. Source: NOAA U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020, retrieved Oct 10, 2026.
Waypoints on each corridor
- Chicago to Dallas: Chicago > St. Louis > Oklahoma City > Dallas-Fort Worth
- Los Angeles to Dallas: Los Angeles > Phoenix > El Paso > Dallas-Fort Worth
- Atlanta to Newark: Atlanta > Charlotte > Baltimore > Newark
- Chicago to Denver: Chicago > Omaha > Denver
- Denver to Seattle: Denver > Salt Lake City > Boise > Portland > Seattle
- Seattle to Los Angeles: Seattle > Portland > Sacramento > Los Angeles
- Chicago to Boston: Chicago > Cleveland > Buffalo > Boston
- Laredo to Minneapolis: Laredo > Dallas-Fort Worth > Oklahoma City > Kansas City > Minneapolis
- Houston to Atlanta: Houston > New Orleans > Birmingham > Atlanta
- Memphis to Philadelphia: Memphis > Nashville > Louisville > Columbus > Philadelphia
- Seattle to Minneapolis: Seattle > Billings > Fargo > Minneapolis
- Miami to Chicago: Miami > Jacksonville > Atlanta > Nashville > Chicago
What it means for your fleet
- Pad the schedule in the months the table darkens. A promise that works in June can fail on the same lane in January.
- Think about the whole corridor. The worst waypoint is the one that sets your slack, even if the rest of the lane is dry.
- Price the lost day. The calculator needs your cost of a lost day. If you do not know it, work it out from your cost per day with the cost-per-mile tool.
- Do not use normals on the day. Check the National Weather Service forecast and the state 511 service before a winter run.
- Heat and cold change cost, not only time. Reefer run hours, tire wear and idling rise at both ends of the scale.
Questions
What are the numbers?
NOAA publishes 30-year normals for each weather station: the average number of days in each month with a given weather. For example, days with 1 inch or more of snow. A normal of 3.0 means that in an average January between 1991 and 2020 that station saw about 3 such days.
Why is the corridor a straight line?
The map draws a straight line between waypoint metros, so it is not the road. The weather figures are for the airport stations at those metros. Weather between them, on mountain passes in particular, is not in this data.
Is this a forecast?
No. Normals are long-run averages. A single winter can be far above or below them. For a real trip use the National Weather Service forecast and your state 511 service the day you roll.
How do you get the expected cost?
The expected hazard days on a trip are your days on the road times the average share of the month with that weather at the waypoints. You then enter the share of those days that really stop you and what a lost day costs. Both are your assumptions, so the result is an estimate you control.
Why are some waypoints missing?
NOAA leaves the snow-day normals blank for some stations. Denver, Laredo, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sacramento. They are left out of the snow figures and the page says how many waypoints each result uses.
Related guides and tools
- Weather risk calendar: storm events by month, from NOAA
- Reefer temperature days: heat and freeze days by city
- Road works radar: live work zones
- Freight corridors: where freight moves
- Cost per mile: your own cost per mile
- Intelligence hub: all open-data pages
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