Safety tips while on the roads during severe weather
Stormy, and possibly severe, weather is slated to hit large swaths of Minnesota during both the morning and evening commutes Monday.
Mohamed Abdulahi helps his students at Alamo Driving School not panic, which is important for even the most experienced drivers when dealing with severe weather.
"If you go to your job in 20 minutes, allow 40 minutes," Abdulahi said. "Just double it. That's my policy. That's what I tell [students]. Just plan, Plan A and B."
According to AAA, some best practices for driving in the rain are to leave extra following distance since it takes some extra time to stop on wet roads, don't use cruise control and avoid hydroplaning by letting off the gas when going through puddles.
"If you can either get into work earlier, or even the midday timeframe looks to be an ok time to drive, shift around the timing of driving to be able to dodge those storms," said WCCO Meteorologist Lisa Meadows.
Don't think twice about pulling over either. But if there are strong, straight line or tornadic winds, camping out in the car under an overpass can be dangerous.
"The problem with overpasses is that the winds that go through the overpass, underneath it, will get funneled through and actually go faster, so any debris in those winds will be pushed through even faster," Meadows said. "Honestly the best thing to do is to not be on the roads."
