RE: Camping in bad thunderstorms

[JemJen24]

 
We re going to Hot Springs Arkansas tomorrow for a week and yesterday the weather report (on weather.com) called for sunny all week with rain towards the end of the week.  Today, they ve changed it to STRONG THUNDERSTORMS on Saturday (our arrival day) and then on and of rain/thunderstorms for the rest of the week.
 
 I KNOW this report will, more than likely, change another 5 times again, but I d like to hear your " Camping in strong storms"  stories.
 
 Also, is there a protocol for seeking safe shelter at State Parks when storms turn severe?
 
 Jennifer

[whitestar505]

 JemJen24
Jemjen24,
 
   Good questions... I have been wondering also but have not put it in writing. Just how safe are we in a popup with lighting ? If really bad is the car the best place to be or should you just ride it out? I would also think by being under the trees would not help also. This time of year is the worst time because the storms are so unpredictbile. [&:]

[mikewilley]

 JemJen24
Jennifer,
 
 I would also be interested in what folks say.  I don t think I would be overly concerned about lightning hazards, but the potential facing for 50+ MPH straight line winds, large hail, or tornados (all very reasonable byproducts of a strong thunderstorm) in my 2000 pound pop up with cloth walls scares the bejeebers out of me.
 
 You re from our neck of the woods and have seen what a serious thunderstorm can do to brick houses with shingle roofs.  The odds are with lots of trees for wind-breaks and slowing the decent of hail stones you ll be fine.  OTH you may want to wait for a better forecast or keep the popup closed and stay in a nice hard hotel room.
 
 Hope the forecast changes for the better for you!
 
 cheers,
 mike

[AustinBoston]

 JemJen24
I have no experience popping-up in string winds, but the consensus on winds seems to be that any pop-up will stand up to at least 25-30 MPH winds, and that all of them are in danger at 50 MPH.  In between is a gray area.
 
 However, high winds can dislodge things from overhead (dead branches, weakened limbs, etc.), and a pop-up will not protect you when those things fall.
 
 Lightening is a different story.  If the lightening itself would drive you indoors, then the pop-up is no place to be.  IMHO, there is not enough metal in the uprights, end bows, and shepherds crooks to form a Faraday cage, and so lightening can get you good while inside your pop-up.  If you are in an open field, or there is a single tree hanging out over your pop-up, it s time to flee to your car (which does form a reasonable Faraday cage).  In more densely treed areas, the lightening is more likely to hit and follow a tree somewhere else than at or into your pop-up.  This reduces the risk, but doesn t eliminate it.
 
 Back in our tenting days, we were in New Brunswick one weekend.  We had about 30 minutes of very intense rain with some of the most ferocious lightening I could ever imagine.  The lightening was intense for about 20-30 minutes, but there was one five minute period where there were about ten flashes per second!  It was bright & continuous enough to read by, but the noise was too intense to read through.  The girls (about 3 & 5 at the time) slept through the whole thing.
 
 Austin

[Bearnkat]

 JemJen24
Hi Jennifer,
 
 Terry and I have been camping at least 3 times in bad storms, once at Daingerfield, once in Tyler and recently in Palo Duro Canyon. The Daingerfield storm was particularily scary. The rangers came by to tell us of the storm system moving in and to head for the showers (safest place in the park), if we feel the need. The camper real shook that night, but we survivied. If you have your awning out, be sure to take it down and roll it up. The wind will do a number on it.
 
 Palo Duro was also the same way. The rangers came by to warn all of the campers in the park of the impending storms and told us the same thing, head for the showers if the storms get real bad.
 
 Another thing we don t leave home without is our portable weather radio. The signal that the weather service uses is not strong so sometimes we can get the reports, but most of the time we don t. We also rely on local TV news and weather, which we try to catch each evening before bed. Otherwise we listen to the radio or ask at the front gate if there are any threatening storms scheduled.
 
 On the another note, we love it when it rain while we are in our camper. I said rain, not strong thunderstroms. The sound of the rain on the roof is so peaceful.
 
 Have a great time. Just use common sense and you ll be fine.
 
 C & T

[NJDucks]

 JemJen24
The first year we had the trailer we were backyard camping when we had a scare.  There were some thunderstorms in the area but none were believed to be serious.  I was in the popup with the kids while my wife went inside the house to get ready for bed.  She came out about ten minutes later and quietly told me that the weather channel was reporting a tornado less than 15 miles away and moving towords us!  I grabbed the kids and we headed into the house and the basement at a dead run.  The skys opened up as we got to the door of the house.   We did not witness the tornado, but there were sustained winds of 50 miles per hour with a gust of 75.  After it passed I went outside figuring to fnd the worst.  We had the AAR up and at the least I figured that would be torn off.  Everything was fine!  Really surprised me.
 
 I talked to a campground owner in Tenessee where they get some tornado activity.  He says they keep the weather beacon on all the time and if they get a tornado warning he goes out and gets all the popup campers to come inside.  If there is enough warning he tells them to pop down.  He says that awnings are usually toast in strong storms (all of them - not just pop-ups) and he hasn t seen a popup tenting torn.  He does worry about falling limbs and trees though.

[garym053]

 JemJen24
When we first bought our pop-up in 99, I tried to find out how safe a pop-up was in lightning and searched the internet. I finally found some info put out by the U.S. Army advising all personel to leave canvas covered vehicles and seek shelter in buildings or completely enclosed steel vehicles with windows up. That was enough info for me to know that pop-ups were not considered safe in thunderstorms.
 
 Many people think that it s the rubber tires that afford you protection in a car, but really it s the steel cage that surrounds you.
 
 If a thunderstorm is close, we head for the Jeep and wait it out, even after it appears to be over. Last year at a nearby state park, a camper was killed when he left his car after he thought a thunderstorm was over and went back into his tent, and lightning struck. I beleive his family was still waiting it out in the car.
 

[TG1956]

 JemJen24
We were in a very strong thunderstorm several years ago in an early 60 s vintage Coleman camper - canvas fabric. There were straight line winds reported to be in excess of seventy miles per hour. Our four year old son who was sleeping on the floor slept through the whole thing as the camper umped and swayed all over the place.
 
 When all was said and done, we hade a tear in the camper fabric where a pole from the AAR went through the side. We were VERY impressed with how well the little pop-up did. In the morning we saw the damage done to all of the tents. Not a single one was left standing and many torn to shreds. That sold me on pop-up camping!

[Gone-Camping]

 JemJen24
A few years ago, we were camping at " Camp Hatteras"  which is pretty much open field camping on a narrow strip of the NC Outer Banks. We had cable tv hook-up s and knew from watching the weather channel we had a strong storm front moving our way.
 
 We did what we thought needed to be done to prep for the storm, but we weren t prepared for what ultimately hit us. As the storm front left the mainland and started across the Pamlico sound, it managed to pick up speed, a lot of speed, and it also intensified. By the time it reached the outerbanks it had also developed a water spout, which is the weaker watery cousin of the tornado. We had hunkered down in our PU, and the two friends that were staying in tents were also in my PU, then the storm hit from the West.
 
 It initially blew my AAR to shred s, tore it right off along the channel where it slides onto the roof, and also tore it down the roof line on one side. It was completely ruined. The winds then shifted suddenely and was now coming from the south, and almost as quickly it shifted again coming from the East. That subsequently tore a large 24"  tear in the canvas above the big rear window, and another smaller tear outside the front canvas beside the door. During this whole ordeal, the trailer shook violently, the top was swaying wildly in all directions, the kids were so scared they were screaming and crying, and to tell the truth, that was about as scared as I ve ever been while camping.
 
 When it was all over, we went out and surveyed the damage. While I suffered some major canvas tears and a destroyed AAR, the PU next door to me (the one which I now own BTW) had a shepherds pole tore from the ceiling, the bunk end canvas pulled fromt he track and down on the bed, and a pair of bent stabilizer jacks.
 
 Down the street one 8  Starcraft PU got blown right over on it s side, and several MH s and TT s had destroyed awnings. We did what we could to recover from all of this, keeping a close eye on the weather channel, as another front was due to blow through in about 2 more hours, this one just as bad if not worse. As the winds started to pick up whle the 2nd front was closing in, I decided to cut my losses while I still could, and popped down as quickly as possible. We rode that one out in the car, and it was indeed worse than the first one.
 
 We survived the ordeal, but thinking back, in all that wind, ANYTHING could have been picked up by the wind, and come sailing right through the canvas, possibly impaling one of us. I ll never again ride out a major blow like that in a PU, just too many things to go wrong. It s a lot easier to pop-down and wait it out, cheaper too!!!

[whippetwrun]

 JemJen24
We sat out one lightning/thunderstorm.  I d rather not do it again.  The winds and storm weren t too bad, but having lightning strike 25 feet from the pop up, rip down the side of a tree and send tree shrapnel everywhere, embedding it up to 4 inches into the dirt around the popup and blowing out the window of a nearby TT left me wondering what else could happen while we try to bravely ride out the storm in the popup with only canvas protecting us and four poles holding up the roof over our head.  []
 
 While we might not cancel a trip, next time we ll be off in search of sturdier, safer shelter.

[tlhdoc]

 JemJen24
We have been in several thunder storms.  If there is thuder and lightning we get in the car.  On a few tips we spent hours in the car as one storm after another came through.  I am not willing to risk my family s life by sitting in the PU in an electrical storm.