Weather question about driving down from Illinois to Florida in January

[taylor1293]

We just found out today that we may be taking a trip to WDW in early January. My BIL and his family are coming in from Austrailia for the first time in many years and would like us to go with them on their first trip to WDW.

We've done the drive twice in the past year, but both times were in the summer months.

What kind of weather can we expect to encounter in TN and GA in early Jan?

Thanks

Teresa

 

[FloridaCat]

Could have mild weather or freezing rain. The mountains would be the problem as I have run into some rough weather there as well.
I use to come down to Florida in the Winter from IL as that was the only time I could get off. For the most part I had no problems.
The bonus is your use to handling it.

I would keep an eye on the weather for a few days beforw leaving, but head on down.

 

[deb305]

We drove I-75 from Dayton Oh to FL this January. The mountains had flurries, and we only had to slow down once. Around Chattanooga there was a fog warning system, luckily no fog. Once we cleared TN everything was smooth sailing. Even in the mountains I-75 is well populated. We found the roads were kept plowed, and there were plenty of stops for hotels in case of emergency. We watched the weather channel closely a few days before our trip which helped a lot

 

[FloridaCat]

Just be caefull coming through the mountains at Chattanooga. No matter the weather this is the one place that seems to have accidents. I have driven the trip over 15 times, twice last year.

 

[taylor1293]

Floridacat and Deb305 -

Thank you so much for your help! I'm crossing my fingers that the weather will be clear. I think we will give ourselves 2 days there and back this time (we drove straight through the last 2 trips) in order to allow for unpleasant weather.

Thanks,

Teresa

 

[tinaluis]

Teresa,
We drove from Chicago this past Jaunuary (Jan. 18-Feb.1) and we encountered some snow and sleet in Tennessee and northern Georgia that was pretty bad. The southern states don't use salt for snow, they use a gravel/dirt mixture which wasn't very effective, so I think your plan of 2 days down and 2 days back is a good one. If you have good weather and feel like continuing on, you can always drive straight through. We stopped just before Atlanta on the way down and near Nashville on the way back. If you haven't already considered a driving route, we usually drive I57 to I24 to I75 and we encounter much less traffic than driving through Indiana. Have fun!

 

[FloridaCat]

Going down, a good stop over is Tifton, GA, south of Macon. Hotels have the lowest rates here. A masters if you don't need a pool, Ramada if you do. Cracker Barrel and Adkins Nut store all at the same exit. A Walmart Super Center on the other side of I-75. Racetrak and Pilot has the best gas prices in GA and FL

 

[taylor1293]

tinaluis - Thanks for sharing your experience last year . Snow we can handle, it's freezing rain and ice that scare me! That is the route we like to take also . We are in Southwest Illinois, so going into Indiana would be out of our way. Thanks!

floridacat - thanks for the tip about Tifton! We will be traveling on January 1st, do you think we will encounter any problems with booked hotels on the road?

Teresa

 

[FloridaCat]

I would not think so. Ramada and Masters are ony 2 of 15 in the area. There is two exits for Tifton and a lot of billboards before you get there.

If Adkins is open you can buy some good GA Pecans, honey, peanuts and other goodies. I never go past Tifton without loading up.

 

[FloridaCat]

WDW will be somewhere about six hours from there. Just to help your trip time. I -75 traffic is pretty low until you get close to Widwood.