see also:

• photography and camping main index page
• wind speed and wind force
• tents and the wind
• tips for camping in the rain
• how to reduce your risks in lightning storms
• how to reduce your risks in the event of a tornado
• tips for camping in fog ... or not camping in the fog
• Youtube - testing several hiking tents in winds over 70kph
  • best tents: Zpacks Plex Solo, Samaya 2.0, Tarptent Arcdome Ultra
  • tents that suffered pole damage on setting up: Nemo Dragonfly 2P, Durston X-Dome
• Youtube - testing several hiking tents in winds over 100kph
  • best tents: Samaya, Hilleberg

• 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 as there is little protection and there are stronger winds at that elevation and the weather conditions can change rapidly

• choose a less windy and more protected camp site - but ensure there are no large trees or branches that may fall onto your tent
• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• strong wind events will destroy most camping gazebos and many car awnings

• 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

• ear plugs or headphones for noise and dust
• eye mask to help stop dust in eyes
• consider a face mask to reduce breathing dust

• you may need to clear fallen trees or branches to drive home