Hot Weather Camping Can Present Certain Challenges

With hot weather camping, you will meet certain challenges to overcome at times. If you can, put your tent or camper in a shady spot, this will help keep it cooler when the temperatures are high.

It also is easy to get dehydrated if you do not drink enough water. Make sure to drink water throughout the day. You will perspire more during this type of weather, so you need to replace the fluids you are losing. Hot weather camping also means a higher risk of sunburn, so make sure to wear sunscreen and reapply during the day to ward off problems.

Weather Issues that Can Occur

The hot weather can bring with it the chance of storms happening from out of nowhere. Rain showers, thunderstorms, microbursts, and even tornadoes are more prevalent during the warmer months of the year. In addition, there are those days that are windier than others are, and even a heavy wind can play havoc with your hot weather camping set up. To safeguard yourself, you should always have a weather radio with you. This way you can be forewarned of any approaching problems.

Tents should be securely tied down this will help in case of high winds. However, there are those times to vacate the tent and head for more secure shelter such as a tornado approaching. Most tents are waterproof with additional attachments to go them for extra waterproofing. It is always good to check this before buying any tent.

If you are in a camper, you have a bit more protection than a tent, but things can happen with the campers as well in storms. When the wind is too strong, the awning should not be placed out, because this can flip the camper over. The awning makes the camper almost airborne in strong winds and these winds do not have to be tornado strength for this to happen.

Microbursts happen during your hot weather camping when sudden drop of air come down vertically from the clouds and it can produce strong wind shear. This wind shear is a sudden change in the direction or speed of the wind. These microbursts can cause a good amount of damage.

A story I received

Personal Account of Riding Out a Microburst, While Hot Weather Camping

My son and I were hot weather camping one summer at our favorite campground. The weather was hot and it we were having fun swimming during the day. One night we had just gone in the camper as the sun had gone down. We had the awning out even though one side was not quite working right.

All of a sudden, a storm started to over the lake we were camped next to, and a microburst came out of nowhere. I tried to pull the awning back in but could not get it in so I went into the camper with my son. The camper started to shake and kept on for about 30 minutes.

During this time, the one canopy support that was not working right got blown through the camper wall, luckily not where we were sitting. The weather calmed, and we blocked the hole in the camper for the night. The next morning we saw the storm damage around us, tents had been blown over, other campers were damaged, and our camper had a large hole in it. I learned the hard way when to have the canopy out and when not to have it out for shade.

This information is not meant to make you afraid of hot weather camping. It is meant to teach you what you should be aware of to safeguard yourself while camping.

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