Wind velocity limits

[Jinx & Wayne]

We've been up north and hurricane season has been slow so far. North is getting colder and hurricanes are heating up. We are heading south soon and the itinerary includes Outer Banks in two places including down by Cape Hatteras. We have a 16K fiver with four slides. Does anyone have an idea about how much wind is too much? When do I have to hook up and run for the mountains?

Jinx and Wayne

[bobsallyh]

We have left Myrtle Beach twice during September. Both times were under "voluntary evacuation". After that comes "mandatory evacuation". Don't know about other areas along the coast but at MB, under the voluntary deal, you simply drove out like you would normally leave. Had some friends from St. Louis are that fooled around and ended up leaving under the mandatory evacuation. Huge cluster! Took 12 hours to get from N. Myrtle Beach to Camping World on US 501. A very short distance. Spent the night there. Then they continued on towards I-95, restaurants were stripped out of food etc. They said, "never again". Wind, rising tides, and hurricane warnings don't mesh well with RVs in my opinion.

[VC 23RSS]

I leave September 27th for the Gulf.   My plan is to leave way before the mandatory evacuation and run, Forest, run.  We have a cheap Baofung HT radio that will receive NOAA, HAM & GMRS frequencies. 

Since I've already encountered 40 mph direct crosswinds while camped and towing the TT with no problem I will go with that number while escaping.   The plan is to get as far as possible (within reason) and monitor the winds.  Hopefully if we didn't get as far as I want we will find a big parking lot and keep turning the rig into the wind.  At that point 70 mph winds are my set limit of comfort.

Couple of points to remember.   Once out of the worst hurricane zone you get into the tornado zone.  Stay away from the N/E quadrant of the storm.

I can go a maximum of 350 miles towing under normal conditions.  Additional gas can can extend that to 450.  That nearly halfway home.

[agesilaus]

OK my experience since 1960 in Florida. Late season stores are almost all what's known as Fish Hurricanes. Meaning they churn around the Atlantic and rarely hit land. Early season storms often spawn in the Gulf and in the Caribbean and cause trouble. Late season storms spawn off Africa the the steering winds usually steer them south or north away from most land.

Now this is just on average, we could still get a hit from a late season storm. So just watch the warnings and evacuate if required. These storms lose wind velocity rapidly and once you are 150 miles or so inland you are usually safe. Not counting torrential rain and flooding events outside Florida.

The weather guessers have just been plain wrong for the last 10 years or more. Mostly predicting lots of storms and getting few that hit land.

[GlennWest]

Worse wind i ever encountered was coming down I-35 thru Kansas. Have been in tropical storms in southern Texas and it was worse in Kansas. 

Edited September 8, 2022 by GlennWest

[VC 23RSS]

11 hours ago, agesilaus said:

OK my experience since 1960 in Florida. Late season stores are almost all what's known as Fish Hurricanes. Meaning they churn around the Atlantic and rarely hit land. Early season storms often spawn in the Gulf and in the Caribbean and cause trouble. Late season storms spawn off Africa the the steering winds usually steer them south or north away from most land.

Now this is just on average, we could still get a hit from a late season storm. So just watch the warnings and evacuate if required. These storms lose wind velocity rapidly and once you are 150 miles or so inland you are usually safe. Not counting torrential rain and flooding events outside Florida.

The weather guessers have just been plain wrong for the last 10 years or more. Mostly predicting lots of storms and getting few that hit land.

The current situation in the Atlantic seems to be proving your point on fish hurricanes. 

[Jinx & Wayne]

19 hours ago, bobsallyh said:

Wind, rising tides, and hurricane warnings don't mesh well with RVs in my opinion.

I agree entirely. My RV doesn't know how to swim of fly. I don't want to be in it while it tries.

15 hours ago, VC 23RSS said:

Since I've already encountered 40 mph direct crosswinds while camped and towing the TT with no problem I will go with that number while escaping. 

Thanks. I haven't been in 40 mph cross winds but will go with that number. While I suspect my cross section is larger than a TT, my fiver is certainly heavier, too. I have the radio and watching the NHC is a daily ritual. Your mention of fuel reminded me that I need to fill both tanks (total 84 gal) right after unhooking. That way I am not caught unaware. A good reminder on the N side generally and the NE side in particular. My only official meteorology class was in 1981 and I had forgotten the issue of stronger winds and heavier rains in those areas.

 

13 hours ago, agesilaus said:

The weather guessers have just been plain wrong for the last 10 years or more. Mostly predicting lots of storms and getting few that hit land.

I agree. But it only takes one with my name on it.

Jinx and Wayne

[Kirk W]

27 minutes ago, Jinx & Wayne said:

14 hours ago, agesilaus said:

Mostly predicting lots of storms and getting few that hit land.

I agree. But it only takes one with my name on it.

I have lived long enough to know that weather predictions have steadily become more accurate over the years and the predictions of hurricane arrivals are one of the most accurate, at least partly due to the hurricane hunter airplanes that fly through them more and more frequently as they near land. The more in advance that a warning is given, the larger the area of warning will be and they tell you at the time that it will narrow as it comes closer.

It seems that the NWS has become one of those safe organizations to attack to gain agreement without frear of contradiction. Much like the USPS, they are safe targets. 

Edited September 6, 2022 by Kirk W

[Chalkie]

If you look at the Colorado State University predictions on named storms you will find that they have been pretty close over time since 1984. For this year they are predicting 8 hurricanes and the average from 1991-2020 was 7.4. You can check all the data here.

[jbh]

One thing to bear in mind is that eastern North Carolina and South Carolina tends to flood tremendously from hurricane rainfall.

[agesilaus]

Quote

Thanks. I haven't been in 40 mph cross winds but will go with that number.

40 mph is nothing unusual out here in the Rocky Mountain states. We were in the Black Hills area a week ago when someone came by banging on our door and warned us of a tornado watch, our phones had just done the same. I went outside to watch the sky and was treated to a spectacular display of sheet lightning and gale force winds. No twister tho.

Winds blow all day out here and can often gust to 40+ mph. But we have an Arctic Fox and they are quite heavy, 9000# in our case. The RV may sway a little but that's all. Forget about putting your awning out tho.

80mph winds are something else tho. Remember doubling wind velocity increases their force by 4 not 2. It goes up by the square by the Kinetic Energy formula.

As for weather predictions, yes they have gotten better at some things. Temperature for one. But for rain predictions they aren't so good. They are better at tropical storm tracks too.  Check hurricane landfalls over the last few decades we are in a calm period. Also they are finding small storms that would have gone unfound prior to weather sats which first went up in the mid 1970's. But for long decade plus climate predictions the weather guessers are not so good. Lack of computer power is the main issue there.

[TXiceman]

46 minutes ago, agesilaus said:

 

Winds blow all day out here and can often gust to 40+ mph. But we have an Arctic Fox and they are quite heavy, 9000# in our case. The RV may sway a little but that's all. Forget about putting your awning out tho.

 

Our 5er is 19,000 LB and we are still rocked a bit in windy conditions.

Ken

[sandsys]

Our RVs were mostly built on a Sprinter platform. I didn't like driving in anything higher than 30 mph winds. We did survive 70 mph winds overnight in the desert by turning our RV when the winds changed direction.  We stayed parked but took shelter when a tornado warning reached us (twice) even though most simply stayed in their rigs. We did, however, evacuate when we were warned the outer edge of a hurricane was likely to reach us and came back to lots of tree limbs down but no other apparent damage. And we drove out of a flooding park when we realized the water was still rising to a level uncomfortable for us. Many rigs stayed, but we moved to higher ground away from the river that was flooding. Everyone has to decide for themselves what risks they are willing to take.

Linda

[agesilaus]

If you think about it, RVs take 60 mph winds head on while traveling. Or now days 70 or 80 mph, guessing at the speed of all those RV's passing us on the roads. Our heavy Arctic Fox has never had any issues with cross winds so far.

I have my doubts about those RV's labeled ultra lights tho.

 

Edited September 7, 2022 by agesilaus

[Kirk W]

39 minutes ago, agesilaus said:

I have my doubts about those RV's labeled ultra lights tho.

Since I tow one of them and have done so in a high wind I would agree with you that they are more impacted than something that is heavy. That said, we did experience some pretty violent thunder storms with very high winds when hosting at a lake in SD back in 2018. Because of the knowledge that it could happen we kept the water tank completely full all of the time and we had extra stabilizers under the frame to prevent rocking. We experienced gusts above 60 and that was enough to convince me that we will continue to take shelter in weather warnings.

[Jinx & Wayne]

10 hours ago, jbh said:

One thing to bear in mind is that eastern North Carolina and South Carolina tends to flood tremendously from hurricane rainfall.

Yes, and storm surge in the Outer Banks is an issue.  Those things I am aware of and can monitor pretty well. It was wind velocity that had me stumped. I'm pretty sure 40 mph will be safe. Over that and I am moving. It is easier to leave when the weather is nice than in the midst of madness.

Jinx and Wayne

[Ray,IN]

Many years ago a member of irv2.com, who was a retire math teacher, calculated the direct side wind force required to overturn his 5er. I only remember the final figure; it was 85 MPH.  He even went into details, height and weight of each appliance inside was one.  I cannot remember more.

[agesilaus]

If a tropical storm or hurricane is predicted to hit the outer banks or any barrier island that you are on, get off.  There is no safe option other than that. Flooding and storm surge not winds are the killers.

[Kirk W]

9 hours ago, Jinx & Wayne said:

It is easier to leave when the weather is nice than in the midst of madness.

9 hours ago, agesilaus said:

There is no safe option other than that. Flooding and storm surge not winds are the killers.

Not only would I agree with both statements, it seems to me that most of us have no valid reason to stay around and become part of the rush to leave at the last minute or to be one of those who emergency services people and first responders must deal with if things go sour. I consider it to be irresponsible to take such a risk. We have always moved away from a threatened area well ahead of any hurricane arrival. That is one of the best parts of fulltime RVing freedom. 

[GlennWest]

On that trip thru Kansas we were traveling with the DRV. winds 70mph  and driving 60 mph. is that 130 mph? Trim starting coming off of our DRV. We finally pulled over at a big station and stayed till night and wind calmed down. 

Edited September 7, 2022 by GlennWest

[Ray,IN]

4 hours ago, GlennWest said:

On that trip thru Kansas we were traveling with the DRV. winds 70mph  and driving 60 mph. is that 130 mph? Trim starting coming off of our DRV. We finally pulled over at a big station and stayed till night and wind calmed down. 

I'll bet that was a buzz-kill for the fuel mileage - and wallet.

[GlennWest]

Yes, i do believe I could see the gauge dropping. Boost way way up too. That was with a Gmc dually. So believe it was a side wind it would have went over.

[VC 23RSS]

Of the many weather resources a available, I ran across MYRADAR on our Amazon Fire TV that seems useful.  It's free to us but not sure what TV package it comes with.  I think it's a benefit of Amazon Prime.  One very useful option is a graphic representation of wind speeds and direction.  Although the precipitation radar doesn't reach very far offshore the winds are well represented all the way across the Atlantic. 

There is a phone ap available although I haven't tried it.