What's the worst storm you have been in while camping?

With the help of ham radio we have avoided a couple good ones.

EB one day on Hwy 2, ND. we noticed a very large black cloud following us in the distance. A check on the weather channels revealed severe storm warnings for places that we had only just been through. We did not have a smart phone at the time so we got in contact with a local ham with internet service to have a look for us. Sure enough the storm was on the same track as us & gaining on us.

Well, if you find yourself on train tracks & a train is coming, what do you do? You step aside & let it go by. Precisely what we did. First decent road we turned N & went about 10 or 15 miles, found somewhere to pull over, & watched the storm roar by to the S of us.

We went back S & spent the rest of the day following the storm.

Two of note. Tropical Storm 40 miles offshore while I was camping in the keys at Long Key SP, the wind and rain were howling something fierce and nearly lost my awning before I could get it in. The other was a spring storm of torrential rain at Hunting Island SP in SC where it rained 13" in 36 hours. Flooded the place pretty bad and made for some interesting situations.

Hurricane Irene in 2011. We were at Scussett Beach on Cape Cod and had to evacuate. Ended up riding it out @ Circle CG in Bellingham, MA. They gave us an open spot without trees. We had our Monaco Executive at the time, which at 45,000lbs was not bothered at all by the winds.

It was an exciting day though, to say the least. Getting out of the CG a couple of days later was an event as wires and trees were down everywhere.

The worst we have been in was at Big Mac in Nebr. We were on the lake in the boat when a storm blew up. We got the boat loaded and headed for camp but didn't make it and had to stop along the road in a low spot. When we got to the camper afterwards one of the support arms for our awning was driven right through the roof and the camper had been moved about a foot sideways. We found out that a tornado had passed about a half mile from the campground.

Back about 68 we were camped at a COE CG on Lake Greeson in Arkansas. An afternoon thunderstorm came up.

Helped Dad put the boat on the trailer - he was paranoid about it getting damaged by the rocky short lines.

When we drove back to the campsite from the boat ramp, Mom had all the other kids in the car, our stuff was scattered everywhere.

And people were trying to help the folks in the next campsite get out of their car where a 18 inch diameter tree fell on the car - luckly right between the seats. No one hurt, but the car was a total mess.

We never found a couple of the cots us kids had slept in. Several folks insisted a small tornado came over the point where we were camped.

Yes, back then no-one had a trailer, maybe a couple pickup campers. We slept outdoors on cots with a thin sheet to protect us from mosquitoes, or a sheet of plastic if it was raining. Didn't get a tent until 1969.

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mabynack - Thank you for your service. My son said the same thing.

Lebanon in the 80s wasn't much fun in tents for me either, nor Vietnam. All the danged snakes.

Thunderstorm, wind & hail north of Calgary, AB. The wind did not bother us. Been through lots of hurricanes. The hail was something new. Oh, what a noise!!! So loud we had to shout to hear each other inside. The thing is, it was only small hail.



This one, St Vrain SP, Longmont, CO., looked pretty fearsome but the bulk of it passed to the N of us.

We have experienced several pretty bad storms while camping, but I guess our worst was when we were at Point Lookout SP in Md a couple years ago. My nephew and his wife and 3 kids had come to visit us. They took off and went to the beach and I stayed at the camper with the baby, then about 7 months old. All was quiet and he was sound asleep when my phone started alarming and the weather radio went off. TORNADO WARNING! I walked out and looked at the sky and it was perfectly clear. Got on the phone and called DH. No answer. Nephew pulled in with his his and daughter, who was in need of a nap. Told them about the warning, headed for the bath house. DH and my kids pulled in about that time, too. All of us headed for the bath house.

We get there and put the kids in the shower stalls and walked back out and there in the sky over the trees was a small funnel cloud! We had a little bit of rain, but not lots. Picture taken, but I can't find it right now. DH didn't believe me even seeing the picture. The next day, the front page of the local newspaper was about a Class 1 tornado touching down about 1/2 mile from the park.

Scary few moments, but no damage done to the park.

oldmattb wrote:

mabynack wrote:
I guess my worst camping experience involved sleeping in tents in the desert and having the local populace shooting at me. Iraq sucked.

Best post today!

Matt B

mabynack, Thank you for your service to our country!

Another thank you to mabymack for you service.

We were in Nova Scotia when Hurricane Earl was headed toward the Canadian Maritimes. Knowing the only way to PEI, our last destination before returning home, was either by ferry or over an 8 mile bridge we decided to leave the relative safety of Baddeck and head into the storm's path. Our decision was made by fact we had only a few days to visit PEI and if we lost a day or two getting over because of the storm we would just have to skip our visit. So we hopped the ferry the day before the storm was to hit and settled into a campground in the middle of the island.

The next morning the electricity in the campground went out before the storm hit. This was not a good omen. As the winds and rains picked up, we sat in our trailer hoping it was sturdy enough to hold up. In the height of the storm the electricity came back on and not long after the wind and rain died down. The wind on the back side of the storm was stronger than earlier, but even with a lot of shaking the trailer held up will and by nightfall all was calm and the next day was beautiful for sightseeing.

Not sure our move was the smartest, but it ended well in the long run.

We were parked in a Walmart one night and when we got up in the morning getting ready to leave when a Strom blew in. Well the wind was so bad that it pulled the return rack in the parking lot clean out of the pavement.it missed us thank goodness.