LIVINGSTON — You probably felt, saw, or heard the heavy winds on Thursday.
Now, imagine driving a semi-truck in these conditions. Well, truck drivers MTN's Esha Walia spoke to say it’s no easy feat.
“I’ve never seen winds like this before in my life,” said semi-truck driver Keith McIntyre.
McIntyre is a truck driver from Georgia who was passing through Montana on Thursday to deliver french fries in Michigan.
“If I get out of this wind, I’ll be alright,” he said.
WATCH: 'You Can Be Blown Over at Any Time': Truck Drivers on Montana's Dangerous Wind
McIntyre says he has been a truck driver for 24 years – and that wind is an especially difficult condition to drive in.
“You can be blown over at any time. Snow, you just got to slow down,” said McIntyre. “You use a lot of energy trying to control the truck, so I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody.”
Thursday’s windy conditions were especially bad on I-90, where Park County Rural Fire responded to two semi-trucks blown over. One of them fell over a Deputy’s vehicle. Everyone involved in the accident is OK, according to the Park County Sheriff’s Office.
On Thursday, heavy winds closed I-90 between Livingston and Big Timber.
“It’s terrible. If you don’t have to be out in it, I wouldn’t recommend being out in it,” said McIntyre.
Truck driver James Bowman shares the same sentiment.
“I’ve experienced pretty much all, everything that Mother Nature has to offer,” said Bowman. “Wind’s the most unstable. There’s no gauge for how quickly it’s going to change.”
Bowman, who has been a truck driver for five months and is hauling beer, says the most important safety measure for wind is slowing down.
“You have to be aware of other drivers because not everyone is as big as we are, so they don’t have to take the same things into accountability,” said Bowman.
He also says truck drivers have to consider their load size and be serviced often.
For both McIntyre and Bowman, one thing was clear: wind is the worst weather condition to drive in.
“This is the worst,” said McIntyre.
“It’s really the most, like, problematic and turbulent,” said Bowman.
Connected:
It's far from over. More severe winter weather for Montana
Power outages, road closures, structure damage reported as winter storm moves into region
Semis and campers tipped over by high winds in central Montana
