Tracking traffic and weather during holiday travel
Kendall Flynn
CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) – Over 10 million people in Southern California are expected to travel ahead of Christmas, with 8.9 million expected to travel by car, according to Auto Club of Southern California.
Many of those drivers will head to Interstate 10, and through the Coachella Valley. While traffic is always anticipated around the holiday season, storms are now increasing travel times even more.
The Valley and Southern California are set to see rain from Tuesday night through Christmas Day, with the bulk of storms coming in for Christmas Eve. On Tuesday, the Valley saw scattered rain showers, which caused slow traffic on the I-10.
“I drove all the way to Riverside, on the way there it wasn’t bad. On the way back, [traffic] was a lot,” Les Bertrand, a Palm Springs resident, said. “I just got back. Right now it’s a lot of traffic because of the rain. So it was backed up a little bit. Usually it’s like an hour drive… [now} almost two hours.”
As the rain is expected to continue, residents and local law enforcement are reminding drivers to prepare for wet roads and drive carefully.
“Make sure your windshield wipers are brand new or at least fairly new,” Bertrand said. “Because once that rain starts pouring down, it’s really hard to see. And your tires, your tires are everything in the rain.”
“Just make sure that people are mindful of their driving capability. Plan ahead,” Lt. Gustavo Araiza with the Palm Springs Police Department said. “They’re going to have to drive slower, and obviously, when it comes to the roadway getting wet, it makes it easy to lose control of the vehicle.”
News Channel 3 is tracking traffic and weather conditions. Stay up to date on air and online at kesq.com.