How to check road conditions before travelling in Iceland

Why three sources?

Each one is best at one thing:

• road.is shows whether the road is open and what state it’s in right now — ice, slippery sections, snow, closed.
• Veður.is shows the incoming weather and wind. Wind is the limiting factor on many Icelandic drives; rain can be ignored, sustained 25 m/s wind cannot.
• SafeTravel is the safety net — it advises whether to travel at all, lets you file a trip plan with the Icelandic search-and-rescue volunteers, and posts active warnings.

What to check, and when

• The night before a winter drive: scan road.is and Veður.is for next-day conditions.
• The morning of: re-check both. Conditions change fast.
• In a storm: don’t drive in red wind warnings. Sleep where you are. Hotels know this and absorb the change.

Practical rules

• If road.is shows red or closed on your route, do not try to push through.
• If the wind forecast is over 25 m/s on a stretch, postpone.
• For long winter drives, file a trip plan with SafeTravel.