Did high winds cause a deadly accident on the CBBT?
A tractor trailer ran off the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel yesterday and crashed into the bay, killing the driver. There has been mixed information in the media about this accident, and I think some news outlets (CBS News is an example) may have jumped to conclusions that high winds caused the crash -- or at least they aren't giving supporting meteorological information.
The CBBT, a marvel of engineering, runs 20 miles to join the coasts of Maryland and Virginia. I've been on it, and it's a sight to behold. They take high winds very seriously there, having six categories of restrictions on the bridges. NOAA even runs a special "Chesapeake Bay Operational Forecast System" model taking observations into account from multiple weather stations.
An article (which says "goes" not "blows") says the accident happened
It also states
The CBBT Twitter account also quoted Level 3 restrictions by 6 p.m.
However, two relevant weather stations near the bridge, "CBBT" and "CBBT Buoy 14," showed winds of only 25 knots (29 mph), far below the threshold of Level 2 conditions, which would restrict empty tractor trailers but not empty tanker trucks from crossing and require that the cargo weigh 30,000 pounds. Even Level 1 restrictions, which start at 40 mph, don't restrict tractor trailers.
NOAA's "nowcast" (which attempts to plot wind vectors across the bay based on a computer forecast model taking the weather observations into account) for both noon and 1 p.m. showed northwest winds of 25-30 knots over the CBBT, confirming that winds weren't much stronger anywhere nearby.
Based on this data, It's my opinion that this accident was
solely caused by the wind.
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