When preparing for your camping trip, make sure you plan for potential emergencies like thunderstorms.
Tents are not safe places to be during thunderstorms. Your tent provides no protection from lightning, wind, hail, or tornadoes. If you are tent camping during a dangerous thunderstorm, seek shelter immediately.
Here’s more on how to plan ahead for thunderstorms during a camping trip.
Is it Safe to Be in a Tent During Thunderstorms?
Tents are not good places to ride out thunderstorms. While a good tent can keep you dry during rain, it will do nothing to protect you from the more severe aspects of thunderstorms such as wind, hail, and lightning. Heavy rain and wind could collapse or ruin your tent around you or knock tree branches down on your tent.
Hail can also be dangerous in a tent. A flimsy vinyl covering held up by fiberglass poles is no match for balls of ice being launched from the sky. Most hail balls are tiny and relatively soft, but larger ones can easily rip open your tent and pummel you while you sit inside.
And of course, the most dangerous elements of a thunderstorm, lightning and tornadoes, are very dangerous in a tent. If your tent is located under or near a tree that’s struck by lightning it’s likely that you will also be struck. And while tornadoes themselves are relatively rare, you definitely don’t want to experience one in a tent.
How to Plan for Thunderstorms While You’re Camping
Before you go camping it’s important to make a plan for potential thunderstorms, particularly in seasons and areas where thunderstorms are common. You need to decide at what point you will seek shelter, have a plan in place for where to go, discuss each family member’s responsibility during a thunderstorm, and make sure everyone is on the same page.
Get Ready Ahead of Time if Severe Weather Threatens
If you think there is a chance for severe weather while you’re camping or if a thunderstorm is threatening, there are some things you should do to help prepare your campsite before it hits. Not only do you want to make sure your family has a safe place to go and is ready to leave quickly, but you also need to take steps to help protect your tent and camping supplies. Here are some things you can do to “batten down the hatches” before a thunderstorm:
- Secure your tent: Make sure that your tent is secure by checking lines and tent pegs. Make sure the lines are tight and that the pegs are firm in the ground. Zip up all the windows and doors and make sure nothing inside is close to the walls of the tent. If you’re worried about severe wind you should consider removing your sleeping bags, taking the tent poles out of their brackets, and laying the entire tent flat on the ground. If you do this, make sure that you add plenty of weight such as rocks or heavy totes on top of the tent to keep it in place.
- Bring in supplies: Gather up and secure all of your camping supplies somewhere where they will stay dry and won’t get blown away. If you have camping chairs out, fold them up and put them somewhere dry. Everything that can blow away or needs to stay dry should be brought inside a secure location such as your vehicle or heavy plastic totes.
- Protect your cooking equipment and food: You should also make sure that your cooking equipment such as your grill or camp stove is protected from rain and wind. Bring these items inside a shelter of some kind or place them in your vehicle. If you have a bear box in your campsite, that’s a great place to keep your cooking equipment and food dry during a rainstorm.
- Protect your firewood: Find a way to keep your firewood dry. One great option is to wrap the firewood up in a tarp. You could just throw a tarp over the top and secure it around the edges with rocks if you have a large pile. If you only have a small amount of firewood, it might be easiest to put it inside your vehicle or even inside your tent to stay dry.
- Make sure your family is ready to evacuate: Prepare your family ahead of time so everyone knows what is happening and is ready to leave if they need to. Make sure everyone has shoes on (my kids run around barefoot everywhere, even while camping) and have a jacket or coat nearby. Also, make sure that all of your family, especially your young children, understands what you are doing and where you will go if needed.
- Put important supplies and valuables in your vehicle: Finally, it’s a good idea to put any important or valuable supplies in your vehicle. In most tent camping situations your vehicle is your most secure location.
When Should You Seek Shelter from Thunderstorms?
One of the first things you should decide when you’re making a plan for thunderstorms is at what point you will leave your campsite or campground. Everyone has their own risk tolerance level and this will be a personal decision based on your family’s needs, how young your children are, what area you’re camping in, and the immediate terrain around your campsite.
Regardless of what your own personal threshold is, I would never stay in a tent while being threatened by a dangerous thunderstorm. If your local weather services have issued a dangerous storm warning, a thunderstorm warning, a severe weather advisory, or a similar warning, it’s time to begin putting your plan into action. You can learn more about the different kinds of warnings here at the National Weather Service website. Many people will choose to leave earlier than this, but at the very least take watches and warnings seriously.
Where to Go if You Are Camping During a Thunderstorm
When you arrive at your campground, find out if there is a safe room designed to be used in thunderstorms and dangerous weather. Many campgrounds designate their bathrooms or a community building as a storm shelter.
If there is no storm shelter in your campground, as is often the case with more primitive public campgrounds like those found in National Forests, make your own plan for what to do if you need shelter. Sheltering in a concrete block bathroom is a good option. Any building is better than your tent if you are worried about lightning. Your vehicle is also safer than a tent during a thunderstorm.
If there is a tornado, do not stay in your vehicle. First, get to a shelter as soon as you find out a tornado is possible. If there is a tornado warning for your area, don’t delay. If you are stuck outside during a tornado warning, get as low to the ground as you can. Find a ditch or culvert and lay flat with your hands over your head. Visit the websites of CDC and the National Weather Service to learn more.
Make Sure Everyone Knows the Plan
If there is any threat of bad weather during your camping trip, communicate your plan with your family. With kids, keep things simple. Let them know that during a thunderstorm you have a safe place to go (even if it’s only your vehicle) so they won’t be frightened.
If your kids are older, give them an assignment that will be their responsibility during a storm- something like bringing camping supplies to the vehicle or zipping up the tent windows. Younger kids will also feel included and more secure if they have tasks, even if it’s something simple like finding their own shoes and coat and getting in the car. Having a plan will help everyone feel better about the situation.
If you have a larger party or there is a potential that you will be separated (for example, if someone leaves the campground to go fishing or hiking) have a designated meeting place and a backup (such as the bathroom or storm shelter).
Conclusion
Staying safe while camping requires planning ahead and being prepared. Don’t forget to consider the possibility of dangerous storms and bad weather when you’re thinking about possible dangerous camping scenarios, and have a plan in place.