Weather extremes on the southern tier.

[Westinghouse]

I crossed the continent of North America five times across the Southern tier of states from Florida to California. In my experiences, the most serious emergent fatal events were extreme sudden changes in the weather. Try huddling under a bridge at night and early morning for hours, the wind blowing the rain parallel to the road at 75 miles per hour. Thousands of bolts of electricity exploding into the earth all around you. Traffic on all highways and interstates forced to a standstill. Flooding. Tractor trailers pushed over on their sides.⁹

[jamawani]

Not sure where you are from, Westie,
but extreme weather is just another day throughout much of the West.
People from Atlanta and Boston, Amsterdam and Berlin are not even remotely aware.

Just this past week we had 100+ mph winds in Wyoming.
Not ideal cycling weather. That's when you stop and take a day off.

This year, there are already massive fires in Nebraska.
Much of the West has had the warmest and driest winter in history.
And that was after a warm and dry fall.
The fire season is likely to be brutal. Think 1988 on steroids.
People riding cross-country - esp. east to west -
are likely to encounter significant closures and heavy smoke.