camping in strong winds over 60kph is likely to be a terrible experience and likely to damage your tent and risk death from falling trees or branches - AVOID it where possible!
if you are camping above the tree line in alpine areas, you have to assume you may get hit with strong winds at any time without warning as there is little protection and there are stronger winds at that elevation and the weather conditions can change rapidly, this is compounded by the difficulty in pegging in rocky ground - although thankfully risk of shrapnel damage is much lower - but the risks are much higher if your shelter is compromised - you may die of hypothermia - don't be hiking ultralight in those areas
Don't go camping if “strong winds” or “severe thunderstorms” are forecast
the winds may destroy your shelter, and leave you exposed to cold and rain as well as wetting your sleeping gear
there is risk of trees and branches falling onto you or blocking the roads home
flying shrapnel is a significant risk
it will be very noisy and stressful trying to sleep
in fire danger periods, strong winds are often associated with bush fires, especially on hot dry windy days or if “dry” thunderstorms occur, which can have you trapped in your camping area
very few ultralight tents or gazebos will survive winds > 60kph without close attention to setting up and continual reassessment
don't have anything sharp such as rocks rubbing on synthetic tents or tarps - strong winds will result in the tent or tarp tearing!
the strong gusts from a severe thunderstorm often come from the same direction as the thunderstorm which is often very different to prevailing winds and are likely to catch you off-guard! The same applies to sudden strong wind gusts following a cold front - the wind can suddenly change from a northerly to a SW gusty wind
consider options likely to survive strong winds (as long as you are not going to get hit by tree shrapnel/branches) such as:
low profile 320-420gsm polycotton waterproofed seasoned swag on a stretcher to get out of storm water
perhaps add a plow-point tarp if rain is forecast, but this can be compromised if wind changes direction
an air swag may be better - as long as it doesn't get punctured by shrapnel
extra strong 4 season low profile 1-2P hiking tent - perhaps tunnel style
alpine expedition tents designed for strong winds such as:
Mont Epoch - perhaps the most wind proof but harder to set up; 2P, 40D nylon; 5 poles (4 for inner, 1 for fly), 1.4m wide, 4kg, inner is freestanding, but fly needs secure pegging
Mont Supercell Tunnel tent - perhaps best compromise for weight, wind proofing and potentially easier to set up as it has integral pitch (no adding on fly afterwards) but NOT freestanding which adds to complexity in rocky alpine areas as secure pegging not so easy if no snow, 2P, 40D nylon; 2 poles, 1.32m wide, 2.8kg
if camping near your car, pack up, or at least secure shelter as much as possible, and sleep in the car
this will be safer for you and if you packed up, you will still have an intact shelter for the rest of your camp
if you can't pack up, place your car on the wind side of shelter to provide shrapnel protection
minimise wind exposures
choose a less windy and more protected camp site - but ensure there are no large trees or branches that may fall onto your tent
shrapnel blown by strong winds can cause severe damage even to vehicles, let alone swags or tents
orientate the tent for least wind exposure to large surfaces
if the strong winds are likely to be transient as with a thunderstorm during the day time, consider taking the tent down and setting it back up AFTER the thunderstorm - you probably don't want to do this overnight - but it may be an option to consider
choose a tent that is more likely to survive strong winds
the main design factors are:
strong poles or air poles
thin metal alloy, fibreglass or carbon fibre poles are more likely to bend or break - for hiking tents choose alloy poles > 9mm diameter (preferably in a sleeve rather than clip on) or a trekking pole tent (although the lack of flex puts more strain on the downwind peg out attachments which then can tear)1)
if car camping, air beam tents may do better in strong winds as they do not have metal poles that will bend or break, but they are generally not aerodynamic and are much heavier and bulkier than normal tents and need extra strong pegging
aerodynamic design with minimal surface area exposed to the wind
a low profile, small tent or a swag will have less surface area exposed to the wind and thus less wind stresses on the components
aerodynamic tents are more likely to be resistant to wind stresses - for car camping, teepee style tents do well in strong winds if guyed out well
for hiking, a singe entrance style tent with aerodynamic design is more likely to survive strong winds than a two door tent 2)
when pegging out the tent, ensure the walls of the tent are taut but not over-tight - a loose wall will catch the wind like a sail and dramatically increase wind stresses
when planning your pitch place the aerodynamic end towards the wind - and hopefully your door away from the wind
has good wind stress distribution points:
ensure the tent has plenty of guy out points
the guy ropes should be pre-attached or at least are able to be rapidly attached with carabiners or similar so guying out can be done quickly
poles that pass through sleeves will distribute stresses better than just clips
will it get damaged whilst setting up or packing up?
these are critical periods for tent damage risk in strong winds
preferably choose a tent where the fly is pitched first so that it can be sequentially guyed out from bottom up as you set it up
this also allows setting up the inner tent later and it will be less wet from rain and less damaged by winds as inner tents are not usually that strong
if this is not possible ensure you peg corners down FIRST and unpeg these LAST and get your guys on as soon as possible and leave them on for as long as possible
BUY YOU OWN EXTRA PEGS of various types and EXTRA spring loaded guy lines - and USE THEM!
one of the most common causes of wind gust damage occurs when your peg comes out and you lose your critical guy line support
the tent manufacturers will only supply basic requirements - they don't know what conditions you will use the tent in or what tent pegs you really will need, and they may not even supply guy lines or the extra pegs needed for the guy lines
use non-stretch guy lines without springs if guys attach directly to tent fabric as you want the wall as taut as possible to reduce wind force on the tent
if the guy rope is attached to or wrapped around a tent pole then consider using springs to reduce the sudden stresses
ensure you have good strong pegs for the ground type
if you have a larger touring 4-12P tent in sandy soils you will need large heavy duty pegs designed for sand, a sledge hammer and strong guy ropes with springs
if you have hard rocky or compacted clay riverine soils then a strong relatively short steel peg (with hammer) or a screw type may be the best (neither will go through a solid rock though and will struggle with a tree root!)
for sand or snow, deeply burying a dead-man anchor is probably your best bet for each line
in strong winds, use 2 or 3 pegs rope chained behind each other and place 5-20kg boulders on top of these chains
this will help prevent them coming loose
having vertically placed pegs behind each other and chained together is much stronger than double pegging with pegs angled 90deg to each other
take down awnings and ensure tent is zipped up in strong winds
if gaining strong pegging is likely to be difficult (eg. rocky alpine areas), choose a freestanding tent rather than a trekking pole tent (even though trekking poles are generally stronger than tent poles)
DON'T BE LAZY - ensure each guy line has its own peg
if you be lazy and put two guy lines onto one peg then you not only double the tension on the peg and increase risk of it pulling out but when it does pull out you lose two guy line supports and critical tent tautness which results in a rapidly cascading tent failure - that is bad planning risk!
tent fabric tensile strength
in general, the heavier the tent fabric the stronger it will be - hence there is a compromise when choosing ultra-light tents vs heavier alpine or car camping tents
ensure any tears have been repaired as these will become weak point
ensure the tent fabric is not in contact with a relatively sharp object which will tear it in the wind (eg. a sharp rock)
the longer that tent fabrics are exposed to UV rays, the quicker their tensile strength deteriorates, this is particularly the case after 200 days of UV exposures - protect them with tarps if possible or for ultralight ones, take them down each morning to reduce sun exposures
guylines help distribute the wind load, minimizing pole flex and fabric strain, which are the main failure points in wind - these are CRITICAL
if camping in sandy or dusty areas with winds, a full fabric inner tent to reduce dust in the air inside your tent will make your night more bearable
in addition, for those with larger tents:
a tent with a floor will not of itself survive strong winds better, but the floor will prevent draughts and debris coming inside
a tent with snow skirt or mud skirt will be very noisy in strong winds if these skirts cannot be pegged down
even if you have a strong aerodynamic wind resistant tent - tent peg failure can result in the tent being damaged and blown away
a strong wind gust can pull out even 18 strong pegs in one gust - they will need additional support such as boulders weighing 5-20kg each
see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVgeoYz3_AI for an example of a Nortent hot tent being suddenly blown away despite seemingly strong tent pegs - the last peg to come out appears to be the cause of the guy rope attachment ripping from the tent - also shows you should select a more sheltered camp site if strong winds expected and you should double or triple peg the windward guy lines for extra strength and potentially place boulders on the ties connecting the pegs - and don't open a door on the windward side!
take a pole repair kit and a tent fabric repair kit
if a pole snaps, the tent becomes very compromised, a simple short metal tube that fits over the broken pole area can save the night for you
broken poles can easily result in torn tent fabric so a fabric patch repair kit is wise otherwise you will have rain coming in and the tear will get much larger with ongoing wind stresses
take extra care when setting up - this can be the most dangerous period for a tent in strong winds
wait for a lull in the wind before setting up
peg the tent first (starting at the windy end), then peg out the lower guy lines (if it is a fly first tent) before erecting the poles and continually adjust the guy line tension to optimise them without being overly taut
failure to do this may result in either:
poles bending or breaking
tent flying away
tent fabric blowing onto sharp objects (eg. tree branches) and tearing
ensure the poles are properly joined and secured
then guy out any higher guy outs
if you have an ultralight tent which will struggle to survive winds, set up a plow point tarp FIRST
you can the set up your tent or bivvy swag under the tarp with some wind protection
you will need a 3x3m or 2.4×3.6m tarp and a trekking pole or guy out to a tree
don't have a wood camp fire burning and ensure any fire is well extinguished with water
in Victoria during Fire Danger periods, it is illegal to have a camp fire if winds are > 10kph
strong winds are likely to:
re-ignite a partially put out camp fire
send burning embers around and these may impact your tent as well as causing bush fires
don't have a wood stove set up
strong winds are likely to bend the stove chimney pipes even if the chimney is guyed out
in fire danger periods, you are not allowed to have a solid fuel fire if winds are > 10kph due to risk of bush fires
even worse, if you are using the wood stove inside a tent and the tent fails, it may fall onto the stove resulting in a tent fire
take down any gazebos or awnings
strong wind events will destroy most camping gazebos and many car awnings
review any tarp shelters
if you need a tarp shelter, consider using an aerodynamic pitch such as plow point with the point facing into the wind
a plow point tarp shelter may provide extra wind protection for an ultralight hiking tent
strong winds are likely to pull out the eyelets of most tarps - consider attaching guy ropes in a more secure manner than using an eyelet
bring extra sleep aids
ear plugs or headphones for noise and dust
eye mask to help stop dust in eyes
consider a face mask to reduce breathing dust
bring a chain saw
you may need to clear fallen trees or branches to drive home