Opinion. Severe weather?

[Midnightmoon]

Lightning struck a tree behind our house the other night during a storm. No harm done other than the split tree. Anyway, it got me thinking about severe weather and camping. How do you handle a severe weather event while you are out camping/traveling? The worst we ever experienced was in Orlando a number of years ago where everyone from our area of the park huddled in the closest bath house.

I was talking with a buddy of mine about this earlier and he said that he rides a storm out with his family in his truck instead of in his trailer if a more sturdy structure isn't available. What do you do?

[Marcm157]

Fortunately the most severe weather we have experienced to date has been some seriously heavy rain with some thunder / lightening. We stayed in the trailer and waited it out. I am thinking if it were more severe, like hurricane or tornado type activity we would seek solid shelter hopefully well in advance of the event...

[Doug]

I try to check site for any dead limbs or unhealthy looking trees to be concerned with.
Then one of the fist things I look for after setting up camp is a safe shelter. Usually bath house is first choice, then shelter area with picnic tables. Truck would probably be 3rd choice if necessary.

I've been in 2 tornado's with buildings torn down that I was in (not camping). I always have one ear on the weather and am quick to take better shelter if needed.

Doug

[FeatherFam]

We have extremely volatile weather down south. We will likely be under flood, straight-line wind, and tornado watches the rest of this week. They could grow into warnings. That Gulf storm is brewing up and headed this way. We are still going un into the mountains a bit. Hopefully we will skirt most of it.

As far as the truck vs. the TT, I think the truck is a good idea.

[rdlouks]

We have been fortunate, there has only been a couple times while camping that we had severe weather.
First time happened many years ago, my Wife & I were camping in a 1957 Hellite camper. Got caught in a severe "Lake Superior" thunderstorm & high winds. I ended up hooking it back up to our car and weathered it out. Neither of us got much if any sleep that night. (see photo)

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/at...1&d=1498009403

Second time we had our 2003 Jayco Designer fifth wheel. We had a seasonal lot in a local campground, and my Wife helped out at the camp store. It was early spring I was working in the fiver and my Wife was down to the store and a storm came up without much warning. While not tornadoes touched down in our area, there were straight line winds that were hitting 45 to 60 mph, I was at the table working on my laptop watching the young trees almost bending in half when all of a sudden a gust of wind caught the slide-out, I watched the top of it push in about 12 to 14 inches then slam back down. I decided it was time for me to visit the camp store. (which was a block building)

[hboy]

Over memorial weekend we were woke up by the park ranger about 11:30pm on the loud speaker. There was a tornado warned storm 20 miles away, heading our general direction. There had been a tornado about 20 miles North of us at 11pm that night. I thought we were in the clear for the rest of the night once that passed, so I went to sleep. I was wrong.

Fortunately I had arranged shelter before hand and we had a place to go about 10 minutes from the camp ground. In the end we just had wind, rain, hail. That tornado warned storm turned and the tornado warning expired.

It was an exciting night for the kids! And me I guess. I was thankful for the shelter we had. If not for that, we would have been trying to cram in the campground bathrooms (concrete walls) with 300 other people. No thank you! Or get out on the road and get out of town.

Public shelters are kinda going by the wayside. Doesn't seem like there are many anymore. None the less, I would recommend looking for a real storm shelter before hand for sure. Real severe weather in our area is foretasted days in advance. The worst part about being out of town with severe weather is you may not be very familiar with the counties/towns in the area. So you won't know where the storm threat is. In Oklahoma I learn a new town with every new tornado.

My 2 cents:

1) have more than 1 weather app on your phone (and know how to use it) that will push weather alerts for the area you are in. At a minimum, get weather alerts for severe thunder storms, tornado watch, tornado warnings.

2) Pack a weather radio programmed for the area you are in. When severe weather/tornado's hit, cell phone coverage is not reliable (don't ask me how I know) and power can go out. A weather radio with batteries is your friend.

3) Have a paper map for your area that shows counties, towns, highways. When the power is out wifi won't work. If cellular data is down you can't get info. The paper map and weather radio will help you locate where the weather is relative to your location.

Then talk to locals or the chamber of commerce to see where any public shelters are located. If you can get to a real shelter, that is best. (not all buildings are safe) If the big one hits your area, be prepared that you may not be able to get back to you camp site. Trees down, power lines down, or tornado damage in our area is typically blocked off by emergency vehicles immediately after tornado damage for rescue/recover, etc. So have a plan to find a hotel if needed.

That said, have your emergency kit packed and ready to go. Medication, change of cloths, etc. Severe weather can relocate your stuff.

Back to memorial weekend... We had a shelter and was able to track the storm with knowledgeable people who knew the name of the counties, towns and could tell the storm was weakening and turning. We watched the news and could track the rain/hail. After the hail passed, we went back to camp.

Our neighbors at camp had no shelter and little geographic knowledge. They took off and drove South (probably because tornadoes typically travel Northeasterly). They thought they were out of harms way. Once they thought it was safe to drive back to camp, they headed back north. Which turned out to put them driving right through a hail storm. They didn't know where the storm had turned. All ended well. No damage for anyone.

On the road, a severe thunder storm is no joke. Strait line wind can blow a high profile rig/camper over. I don't know how much wind that takes, but I have seen trailers blow over on the road from strait wind.

In the camp ground, I'm not too worried about a severe thunder storm. I've seen a 5th wheel with no visible damage after softball hail. That same storm blew out 3 windows, broke siding, totaled the roof on a stick built house. Shattered a truck windshield, hail damage on one side of several trucks. I do think softball hail can damage a camper, but in this instance, the 5th wheel came out better than the trucks and house. High wind in a camp ground (wooded campground) has little chance of blowing a camper over (my opinion only). The tree may fall on the camper, but the trees tend to block much of the wind.

If there is a tornado watch in your area, you need to have your plan in place. If there is a tornado warning coming at you, you need to act on your plan. A vehicle is not a storm shelter. I vacuumed shattered glass out of my pick up for weeks after a F zero tornado exploded my back window. I was not in the truck, and sure would not have wanted to be in the truck at that time.

If it's just hail and rain, I would stay in the camper. If it's a tornado threat, never never never plan to use your camper or vehicle as shelter. I would rather tornado chase the storm than use the truck for shelter. A tornado can move a car. If you survive that, you may not survive the 2x4 lumber blowing 100 mph through the window.

Dang, that got long quick.. Sorry so lengthy. Like the weather man here says, don't be scared, be prepared.

[norty1]

hboy, good post to give one things to think about. We are in the south east and get lots of pop up T-storms, especially this time of year. Hurricanes are our main concern and we do have a plan in place. Hook up and leave. Fortunately, unlike tornados, they are pretty predictable and they don't sneak up on you. We get sick of hearing about it as they get closer.

We have been a few cg's that were evacuated due to a pending hurricane, once in Myrtle Beach they closed all cg's and evacuated the town. That was a mess. We just came home, which was not in the path. Other times we have done what we had to do to hunker down. High winds and hail can do damage to life and camper and being prepared and taking precautions can save lives.

We are not familiar with how it is done in tornado country so this is an interesting discussion.

[jimp]

We spent a month in Navarre Beach this Jan/Feb, and with the warmer than normal temps we had a couple days of severe weather. Once we went up to the clubhouse/laundry room and camped out the storm of high winds/rain, etc. Another day while there, we were inside the unit and I was laying down trying to nap, the wind was really whipping around and I felt the GH be lifted ever so slightly by the winds. I got up and the DW & I went up to the clubhouse again.

[DocBrown]

What we do is dependent on what's predicted and what's known to be coming. We've been through many major storms over many years of a tent, pop-up, and 2 hybrid trailers. Some where we had to take shelter, some where we waited it out, a few where we spent the night in the truck or car, and two where we just packed up and left before it hit.

The scariest thing when camping is high winds.

[2nOZ]

Living in Kansas we see hail, high winds and tornadoes almost routinely. Lately we have had afternoon thunderstorms that turn severe and produce pea to baseball sized hail and wind gusts to 70 mph. Our TT sits beside our house and weathers it all. Since it is new to us we are awed by the amount of wind it can take and remain in place as we have no wind break. Does build some confidence. We do watch the forecasts carefully and have cancelled one or two trips due to the forecast. In KS, if wind and storms are a factor, we would never camp. That said, we exercise caution and always have a shelter plan in place.

[nma33]

We have been in tropical storms, Hurricane, sever thunderstorms, etc.. on many occasions over the years. In our Pop Up we had to pull the van right next to it to block some the winds, moving to our TT we on the Chesapeake Bay when Tropical Storm Ernesto flooded every site except our! there were folks kayaking on the roads, The piers were all underwater. Moving to now with our Precept, we had Hurricane come too close, the campground lost all power, Thank God for the Generator! We have been evacuated 3x, not allowed to come in for several days, and missed a direct hit of a tornado that flipped 5th wheels all over the campground, unfortunately there was a tenting family that lost their lives, this was an early morning water spout that came a shore (they usually do not) and turned into a tornado, there was no warning, it happened as some folks were just waking up. All of these events happened at Cherrystone Campground on the tip of the Delmarva. Other then the tornado situation that cost lives, the severe weather was something to behold, and to fear.

[Bassdogs]

We weathered a tornado that flipped a boat on the lake and drowned 2 people about 3/4 mile from the CG where we camped in our pup. More recently we were on the Tx gulf coast sw of Galveston Island when tornados were sighted in the area. It was clear from the reports that we were in harms way although they did not evacuate the CG. The bathhouses were wooden structures closer to beach changing rooms than storm shelters. My wife gathered a few things and the dogs while I closed up the slides and unplugged the power pigtail. We drove the 2500 hd truck to an area near the main CG HQ that had survived the last 2 hurricanes and hunkered in the truck as the storm passed over. We were pretty protected by about 100 yards of high dunes. The tornadoes went about 10 miles to the west and all was fine and only minimal damage in the CG from flying palm branches and campsite debris was blown around.

In the above example we were pretty isolated on a narrow barrier island with a single evacuation bridge. Looking back on the incident I think we made good decisions. If we had evacuated off the island, we would have likely driven right into the eye of the storm. Other storms while we were there had also moved in that direction as they moved in from off shore. I think what that says in addition to being familiar with the surrounding area and typical bad weather patterns. You can always 2nd guess your decisions, but keeping a cool head and don't panic. Often people end up in a worse situation by not having a plan in advance.

[blujay40]

Originally Posted by Doug

I've been in 2 tornado's with buildings torn down that I was in (not camping). I always have one ear on the weather and am quick to take better shelter if needed.

Remind me not to take shelter with you Doug!!!! Those things are seeking you out!!!!! ;-)

[Doug]

Originally Posted by blujay40

Remind me not to take shelter with you Doug!!!! Those things are seeking you out!!!!! ;-)

LOL, seems that way.
That might be the best advise in this thread so far

[PonyExpress]

all this is reminding me of one of the funnest things I ever heard from Johnny Carson on the tonight show.

He was reading a list of things that the C.I.A. has known for years but never revealed to the public and the funnest one was "that the CIA has confirmed that mobile homes CAUSE tornados.