Storms...

[chaunclm]

The first thing one needs is a really good insurance policy which protects against all risks. They are more expensive that a standard policy but are worth it if one has a catastrophic loss. Ours is with Progressive and costs a little over $1000.00. We full time in a New Horizon travel trailer and these rigs a quite expensive. (Take my word for it they are great rigs.)

When we are under a tornado watch I spend a good bit of time on the computer looking at local weather radar. If we come under a warning, we would gather up the cats and head to the nearest shelter.

We almost had to do that recently. We were staying at the KOA in Clarksville, Indiana for the Kentucky Derby. One evening we came under a watch. We called the park office, and they identified the nearby Holiday Inn as the nearest shelter. A warning was issued for the area just west of us. We got the cats in their carriers and waited. The storm pooped out a little and no warning was ever made for us. But if one had been issued, we would have went to Holiday Inn. I wondered what the folks at the motel would have thought as we came trooping into their lobby with three cats.

[Skipper4RV]

I have an unfair advantage as an Emergency Manager: I am able to log into the NWS chatroom which gives instant info from responders and weather spotters on severe weather. It is used by the media to get their information. So I know about tornadoes and other severe weather even before the warnings are issued!

[Bucksmom]

There is a NOAA iPad app that I have downloaded. Haven't had to use it yet but nice to. Know it's there

[menoble]

The RV body will keep you safe from lightning as long as you're inside (it hits airplanes frequently). Now if you're outside raising jacks, rolling up canopies, disconnecting shore and TV cables, or whatever and lightning strikes, you might become a statistic.

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by menoble

The RV body will keep you safe from lightning as long as you're inside (it hits airplanes frequently). Now if you're outside raising jacks, rolling up canopies, disconnecting shore and TV cables, or whatever and lightning strikes, you might become a statistic.

On an RV that's mostly wood and fiberglass siding and roof (even with steel frame), that's certainly debatable, and I doubt anyone here wants to test that theory. I know several people what were in a steel rebar'ed brick building who's incoming power was hit, and it shot lightening bolts into the building, out the AC outlets, across the room, and into the wall blowing out a portion of brick to find rebar. Obviously with lightening all bets are off, but anything remotely similar in an RV might ruin someones day.

[SCVJeff]

Originally Posted by Bucksmom

There is a NOAA iPad app that I have downloaded. Haven't had to use it yet but nice to. Know it's there

There is an iPhone/iPad app called BoltMeter that draws a 30mile radius around your GPS location, then shows you 48 separate areas divided on the map by distance and circumference, then where the strikes are occurring with respect to your location. Obviously you need Internet coverage for it to work, but it does work.

[ralphie]

Originally Posted by CaptnLouie

If you are in a campground, and the weather gets bad, leave your trailer and warn others on your way to the bath house or best concrete structure without windows.....

."

x2. Last thing you want to do is worry about the RV if you think you're going to get hit with a big one. If no concrete structure is available, I'd head for my vehicle, if I have one, as a last resort.

[W4RLR]

I have a weather radio in the RV. We're so far into the mountains the cheap Walmart weather radio doesn't work in the RV. I have to rely on the weather radio receiver on my 2 meter ham rig in the TV.

The bathhouse where we are camped at has screen windows and a tornado would rip the roof right off. So the bathhouse is no shelter. I wouldn't want to use the TV as a shelter, I'd wind up drowning as a tornado would throw it in the lake.

The wife stayed up all night the other night when thunderstorms struck. I slept through them. I told her before I went to bed "where would we go if a tornado did threaten?" If it hit, it would just mean our numbers were up.

[Pricejh]

We survived a bodacious thunderstorm and downpour last month in Boluxi. Lots of lightning and aobut 6 inches of rain over night. We were on a concrete pad. i unplugged from shore power and rode it out. Would of headed to the showers if we got word of a twister.

I have both BoltMeter and Lightning Finder on my i-Phone. Between the two of them, I've got a pretty good idea of what is headed my way.

Lightning Finder has an annual fee attached (about $5/yr), but it works and is worth the subscription.

[SCVJeff]

What makes it better than BoltMeter?

Never mind.. Couldn't sleep so I got back up to look

[CaptnLouie]

I just found a smart phone app named Weather Bug. It looks promising.

[JRNOLL]

In the early 60's we were in an earthquake in So. Cal in our 15' Terry TT we had just stopped for the day and did not have the trailer stableized yet when the quake occured. The trailer just rocked a bit. I asked my dad about this and he said that, the suspension would help take up most of the shock of the quake. Driving down some of the roads were and are, worse than a lot of Quakes. Hope this helps. Joe

[Scarab0088]

Originally Posted by Cilrah

Well we have basically no worries about tornados here in the NW but do have the threat of "The Big One" earthquake hitting us someday. I've always wondered about the effect of a large earthquake hitting while we have the jacks down. Anyone ever experienced an earthquake in an RV?

Floods? Now here is one thing that really impressed me about living in an RV. One of our favorite campgrounds here in Washington was severely flooded in 2009, several fixed homes in the area were flooded really bad but after viewing the arial photos of the campground, not one home there was lost

Unlike a storm, there's no warning for an earthquake (at least for now) so it's academic to wonder about jacks vs. no jacks for an earthquake. I was in the Oakland area during the '89 Loma Pieta quake. The local RV parks had no probelms. I was driving a pick-up during the quake and it felt like I had that "flat tire wobble" but even that quake was no problem for the vehicle...now, the road itself might be the problem (Nimitz Freeway collapsed)

The RV would be a nicer place than stick homes for the days following a quake, with your own power, water and such, while the local utilities are out of service.

So, I think what we learned was to stay inside your rig during an earthquake to avoid falling tree parts or overhead wires and such. If driving, pullover asap.

Flooding is a different story - You and your RV need to stay away from the rising water. And, the locals will probably keep you out of trouble areas. I was in Oregon during their severe March storms and was moved-out of our preferred campground due to the risk of flooding. We moved to the CG they suggested and had no troubles.

[badog5]

I use weather bug on my phone, it's a good app.