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Old 03-10-2019, 03:03 PM   #21
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About 20 years ago we used to drive from northeastern Ontario to Atlanta for the NASCAR race which used to fall on our spring break. We used to pitch our tent at the track for 2 days and have a great time then head on to Disney to visit Mickey. One year the weather looked ominous and we were listening to the weather carefully. When they started talking about a tornado warned storm we ran through the rain to our truck grabbing only our suitcases. Our last view of the tent was of it collapsing in torrential rain. We found a motel with a vacancy and paid their (already doubled) rate. It rained so hard the wind drove it under the door and we had to block it with towels. Next day the sun came up and we got back to the track. Everything was soaked but still there. A bit of work and a trip to a coin wash and we were back in business. The rest of the vacation was uneventful.
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Old 03-10-2019, 03:58 PM   #22
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Bad weather fight or flight

Few years back we were camping in our FR Popup close to the beach near the Atlantic Ocean on Long Island, NY with a tropical storm meandering just off the coast. Thankfully, tornadoes rare here, but hurricanes can wreak havoc because they last a long time. Had taken down easy-up tarpaulin and camper awning, but when the storm decided to meander closer to shore the winds began to increase. Had the four corners from the roof staked out but the canvas parts of the popup began to take a beating. Tried parking the car on the windward side and aiming the narrower end of the camper into the wind to no avail. About 11 pm in driving rain decided it was time to shut her down or lose her. Locked the camper down and drove an hour and a half at 1 in the morning to an inland hotel. Spent the next afternoon at a nearby winery and then back the next day for the last two days of our seven day stay. Never seems to be a dull moment for us when camping.
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Old 03-10-2019, 04:11 PM   #23
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Georgian Bay Awenda Provincial Park Summer of 2015. The weather started to turn dark at 10 am, We were under Tornado warning all over Southern Ontario that day. Local radio went away, cell service was gone and AM radio in the truck was awash with noise from storms. Packed up in 10 minutes and dropped the Rockwood on the back of the F 250 and left the park. Hightailed it home and along with many others that day the road was running close to 20 Kph over limit. Moved further inland and within an hour a Tornado touched down with 1 km of the parks. Trees down everywhere. I had firewood get picked up from the truck bed and flew out while heading down the road.
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Old 03-10-2019, 09:27 PM   #24
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Recompence Campground CG in Freeport Maine 2013. Won't forget it. We were delayed and got to the campground a day late only to find a microburst had barreled through the campground the previous evening making it look like a game of pick up sticks with a large area of trees flattened in a wide path. A work camper who was staying there in a tent with her young son had a tree come through the top of the tent and land between the two of them, missing both by inches. An older couple who got to the campground only to find they had left something at home they needed, I think it was medication, so they set up their camper drove home and decided to come back the next day rather than make the drive back that evening. Several trees went through the roof of their camper flattening the bed that they would have been sleeping on. Multiple campers and tents were damaged or destroyed in the path that the winds came through yet no one had as much as a scratch on them.
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Old 03-10-2019, 10:01 PM   #25
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On our first trip to Townsend TN, we set up camp late in the day. By evening, it had started to rain. A few hours later, storm warnings were on the TV. Hail, severe rain, and winds up to 70mph.. problem was they listed impacted areas by county. I had no idea what county we were in.

Google was my friend that night. Found out we were in the storms path so I picked up outside, and pulled in 2 of our 3 slides. I had to leave the bedroom slide out. DH was the sleeping through everything!

We only had a small tear in the roof from a tree branch while other trailers lost awnings and had some slight damage. I learned to know what county we are in. Not just the closest city.
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Old 03-11-2019, 12:24 PM   #26
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We were on our 1st trip returning to Iowa (March 2015) from Alamo Texas in our brand new 2015 3010DS Sunseeker (bought in October 2014). We were almost to Oklahoma City when we saw some very dark clouds heading our way on I35. We stopped in Moore Oklahoma at a CG. We barely got set up and the hail storm hit us (almost gold ball sized). We got into the concrete shelter and started until the all clear sign for the tornado was given. Tie tornado jumped over the CG and hit Moore Oklahoma really hard. We had hail damage, but nothing to serious. We learned the hard way to be aware of any severe weather coming our way. Every year since we plan our trips well aware of any bad weather. We consider ourselves very lucky to not have that tornado hit us.
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Old 03-11-2019, 12:34 PM   #27
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Seems like a lot of us have had our share of experiences dealing with sever weather. These are great stories folks...Sincerely glad that everyone was safe afterwards. Keep the stories coming...they've been awesome to read.
Post a pic if you have one.
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Old 03-11-2019, 12:37 PM   #28
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On our first trip to Townsend TN, we set up camp late in the day. By evening, it had started to rain. A few hours later, storm warnings were on the TV. Hail, severe rain, and winds up to 70mph.. problem was they listed impacted areas by county. I had no idea what county we were in.

Google was my friend that night. Found out we were in the storms path so I picked up outside, and pulled in 2 of our 3 slides. I had to leave the bedroom slide out. DH was the sleeping through everything!

We only had a small tear in the roof from a tree branch while other trailers lost awnings and had some slight damage. I learned to know what county we are in. Not just the closest city.
"What County" !! That is the first thing I look at when we're heading somewhere and I always have our programmable weather radio with and I look up the broadcast Feq. of the county we'll be in.
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Old 03-11-2019, 02:43 PM   #29
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1 month into Full timing we were camped in Meridian MS. Weather radios go off @ 2:00 am. Tornado on the ground heading towards our county. We are in a 5er. Quick departure is not an option. Grab wife 2 dogs and parrot. into the truck to gate which is locked! Hmmm. Run up to two host sites, no one will answer. Get on phone as wife always writes it down along with vet nos. @ every stop. Guy tells us he doesn't actually "click" the padlock. (Huh?). We head to Meridian and hide behind a brick gas station. Upon return to the CG the tornado warning sirens are still going off. Tornado past north of CG.
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Old 03-11-2019, 09:56 PM   #30
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Tent and Texas thunderstorm

June of 1994 on way out west to Anaheim and Mickey Land stopped in Denton, TX north of Dallas for the night. Set up our tent next to a motorhome and light pole in designated site. Hmmmm, OK. Checked with KOA campground office and weather did not promise anything bad that night, but got location of storm cellar anyway.
Some time later I woke up hugging my Thermarest with the ground shaking. Let's see, I'm not in California yet, can't be a quake...??? Then the nuclear flashbulb went off again. KaBOOOOMMMM!. Ground shaking again. OK, Aluminum skin RV and light pole beside us. Aluminum poles for the tent. Definitely not good. Back up the old Isuzu Trooper and bundle wife and children in and batten down. Rough night since it didn't stop raining until just before dawn. Opened tent up to find our sleeping bags floating on the Thermarest pads. Roll wet things up and load up to head to Pecos, TX for our next stop. Set up and spread things out in the hot sun and went in search of supper. Get back and everything has dried. Thank you heat and zip for humidity. I grew up in Burkburnett, TX and had lived in Virginia from '75 on. I'd forgotten how "good" or really how bad a Texas thunderstorm could be.
Forward to the return leg and we roll into Albuquerque with the horizon behind us getting darker by the minute. Check and they had 1 Kabin open, I'll take it. Big storm blew in as we went to supper. Beat that one by a whisker. Two storms in less than 3 weeks. Hmmmm.
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Old 03-11-2019, 10:25 PM   #31
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Western beware

West coast in July camping in the mountains of San Diego county. The local fire crew came by one afternoon to put on a show for the kids, and the big attraction was the kids spraying the firehose up in the air so the water would land on the parents. There were three kids left in line when the crew abruptly packed up and left in a hurry.

The forest ranger said there was a fire about 10 miles to the northeast, but nothing to worry about, and they would keep us informed. I promised the kids some ice cream at the general store on the main road, so we made our way over there. We were surprised to see the parking lot and road jam packed with rigs that had broken camp and were headed Down the mountain.

We decided to head back to camp, relax and have dinner later and wait for an update. Then, with mouths full of burgers the ranger came by to tell us the fire was now two miles north, but there are no mandatory evacuations. We figured it would be hard to sleep with one eye open, and packed up. As we were leaving we noticed we were the last ones in the campground, and last on the mountain road which was now closed. We made it out ok, but realized it wAs closer than we thought. And a long established campground burned to the ground in one of the biggest fires ever to hit that area.
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Old 03-13-2019, 04:39 PM   #32
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About 12 years ago I go fishing with my dad. He has a flagstaff popup that he keeps at the campground. I am in college at the time, and along with my aviation degree I'm getting a minor in meteorology. Watching the news that night, they mention a chance of storms overnight. At about 2am, I wake up because of a shift in the wind, and can see lightning in the distance. My ears start popping because of the pressure dropping. My dad's already up. I tell him "I don't like this". We drop the top and push the beds in really quick. About the time we're ready to get in the truck the sirens start going off and the wind kicks up violently. We ran for the shower house instead. It's a cinder block building so it's the safest structure around. Several other families are already there taking shelter. As we get in the door, I look behind me and see another pop up cart wheeling across the campground. The owner of it is standing next to us with his wife and three young kids.

The next morning, we find several campers flipped and trees damaged. One of the marina's docks was tossed up on the shore with a ton of boats capsized. Thankfully nobody was hurt.

Since that day, there's been a weather radio in the camper with fresh batteries.
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Old 03-13-2019, 07:19 PM   #33
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I hope fellow RV'ers made it to safety before the blizzard hit Colorado.

Here's a picture from a road near where I used to live in Arapahoe County



Storm is supposed to be "epic". Already a law enforcement officer has been killed when hit by a car.
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Old 03-14-2019, 08:09 AM   #34
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Nebraska Camping. Honestly, it's not for everyone. Click image for larger version

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Old 03-14-2019, 07:11 PM   #35
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I hope fellow RV'ers made it to safety before the blizzard hit Colorado.

Here's a picture from a road near where I used to live in Arapahoe County



Storm is supposed to be "epic". Already a law enforcement officer has been killed when hit by a car.
I had planned on leaving Fort Collins for Phoenix today. Yesterday's blizzard changed my mind. I25 South took all day to get opened. Next week I'll try again! Gotta love Colorado!
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Old 03-14-2019, 07:42 PM   #36
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I had planned on leaving Fort Collins for Phoenix today. Yesterday's blizzard changed my mind. I25 South took all day to get opened. Next week I'll try again! Gotta love Colorado!
Texted my friend in Loveland yesterday afternoon. 75 mph winds and snow at his house. I read that the airport clocked winds in the 90's.

When I lived in CO (in Parker) I was amazed at how we could be playing golf in our shirtsleeves one week and the next hunkered down in our house with snow 18-24" up the front door.
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Old 03-14-2019, 10:15 PM   #37
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This one didn't make it. Filmed about 2 1/2 hours down river from my hometown.

https://www.facebook.com/RachelUrban...1595/?sfnsn=mo
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Old 03-14-2019, 10:23 PM   #38
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Sad to see that sort of thing. Still, it needs pontoons!
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Old 03-14-2019, 10:58 PM   #39
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Texted my friend in Loveland yesterday afternoon. 75 mph winds and snow at his house. I read that the airport clocked winds in the 90's.

When I lived in CO (in Parker) I was amazed at how we could be playing golf in our shirtsleeves one week and the next hunkered down in our house with snow 18-24" up the front door.
55 degrees Tuesday. Worked on the TT in a t-shirt. Wednesday 25 degrees, 45 mph wind and 5" of snow. Today, 45 degrees, sunny and the snow is gone. I LOVE Colorado!

Parker and the Rock got NAILED.
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Old 03-15-2019, 08:55 AM   #40
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Hate to see my home state in such rough shape.
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