Barstow weather

Barstow is a Mojave Desert junction town, plain and practical, built where routes cross. I-15 meets I-40 here, and trains, trucks, and desert travelers have been passing through this crossing for a long time. Barstow weather is high desert weather, closer in spirit to Mountain Pass than to the coast: cold nights in winter, serious heat in summer, and wind that can rake the open freeway in any season. A windy day in Barstow is useful information for the climb northeast toward the pass. A calm day here guarantees nothing, because the summit country has its own weather, but Barstow at least speaks the same desert language.

The town's role on the corridor is as the southwest anchor of the Las Vegas drive. Everything between Barstow and Las Vegas is open desert with widely spaced services, so Barstow is where eastbound drivers fuel, eat, and decide they are ready for that run, and where westbound drivers exhale after it. The I-40 junction also makes Barstow a decision point: continue on I-15 toward Los Angeles and the Cajon Pass country, or turn east on I-40 toward Needles and Arizona. Either way, Barstow is the last town of real size until the road reaches somewhere else entirely.

Getting around: Barstow has multiple I-15 exits with full services, and I-40 splits off at the east side of town. Fuel here before driving northeast toward Las Vegas, because the services between Barstow and Primm are few and far apart.