Quick answer

No wind speed settles this. Work from the Met Office warning colour over the site: yellow means read the detail, amber means change plans that could be affected, red means avoid travelling where possible. For a tent, amber wind over the pitch is our line to change the plan.

Table of contents

What the warning colour over your pitch actually means

Start with the map, not the gust figure in your weather app. The Met Office publishes no wind speed that triggers a warning: since 2011 its warnings have been "impact-based", meaning "weather is warned for when it is deemed to have potential impacts on people".

Campers are its worked example: "strong gusts of wind over a field in the middle of winter might not warrant a warning as there's not much tangible impact, that same level of gust in the summer with people camping outside could see a warning issued." The campsite is part of the impact.

At yellow you should "check the details of the forecast and consider taking steps to minimise impacts", and at red, "You should avoid travelling, where possible".

Amber has two published wordings. The Met Office's seasonal advice pages say "You should change plans that could be impacted by the weather"; its Weather Warnings Guide says "You should think about changing your plans".

Yellow and amber each cover a range, so the detail sits in each warning's Further Details section, an impact and likelihood grid: "always check the matrix to see which box has been ticked". That matters most at yellow, because some yellow warnings are issued when the weather "could bring much more severe impacts to the majority of people but the certainty of those impacts occurring is much lower". For a tent the colour on its own is not the answer; the impact box is.

Medium impact for wind includes "Injuries and danger to life from flying debris"; high impact includes "Widespread structural damage e.g. roofs blown off, mobile homes overturned, power lines brought down". That names mobile homes rather than touring caravans, and it is worth reading before you decide a shell makes you immune.

Why the answer differs for a tent, a caravan and a van

A tent has the lowest threshold and nothing hard around you. The Camping and Caravanning Club's figure is that "Most tents are designed to handle winds up to 25 to 30 mph", and that "Anything stronger than that can pose a serious risk to the tent's stability and to your safety." That is the Club's own figure and not a Met Office threshold.

Kampa's air-awning manual deals in words rather than numbers: rated for "Light to moderate weather", ruled out for "Very strong winds or snowfall", with no wind figure in its 135 pages.

Pegs are chosen before you leave home. Our review of the Blue Diamond hard ground pegs is a reminder that a steel spike belongs in firm, stony pitches and is wrong for soft boggy ground, where a wide-bladed peg holds better.

A caravan or motorhome is the opposite trade: the shell helps, the awning does not. The Camping and Caravanning Club says to "Take down awnings and porches" because they "can act like sails, placing extreme stress on your vehicle".

A campervan can be driven off, less of an escape than it sounds: National Highways lists motorhomes, vans and vehicles towing caravans among its vulnerable vehicles in strong winds.

Working through the decision

Take these in order.

  1. Find the colour over the site, not over home. Warnings are regional, and the Met Office says to read the one for "your chosen warning area": yellow over your house and amber over the valley you booked are two different trips.
  2. Look at where the pitch sits. The Environment Agency lists flood plains, including caravan parks and campsites, among what is at risk once a flood warning is in force. Phone the site: does it have a flood plan, is your pitch on the flood plain, would it move you.
  3. Check the drive as its own decision. National Highways says to "consider delaying your journey until weather conditions improve if you can", and Traffic Scotland goes furthest: "Don't tow trailers or caravans if possible". None of it is a rule.
  4. Expect the free window to have closed. The Caravan and Motorhome Club charges nothing to change or cancel more than 21 full days before arrival; the Camping and Caravanning Club refunds a member in full 29 days or more out. Warnings run only seven days ahead, so by the time a colour appears over your site both windows have gone, and neither club promises a free date shift that close in. That is those two clubs' published wording, not a rule for the whole country, so ring and ask before you assume a date change is worthless.
  5. Then decide. Our line: for a tent, amber wind over the site is a change of plan rather than something to weigh up on the night, which is the firmer of the Met Office's two wordings. What moves that line is whether you have a vehicle you could sit in. For a caravan or van the shell buys room, the awning does not, and the drive still has to be survivable.

A change of plan is not the same as cancelling. A site outside the clubs writes its own terms, so before you use the word cancel, ring and ask: can we move to a hard standing or a more sheltered pitch, do you have a pod, cabin or bunkhouse free for the worst night, which corner of the field takes the water, and can we move the booking to another weekend. Asking costs nothing.

Rain alone is a different question, and staying dry camping in the rain owns it.

Named storms, and what a name does not tell you

The Met Office publishes a new list each September: "The list runs from early September to late August the following year", so the 2026/27 names are live.

A storm is named "when it has the potential to cause disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning", so it is a real signal about the region and not about your field: the colour over your own site governs your weekend, and an unnamed system can carry a warning just the same. Read the map, then the UK Storm Centre for the name.

If the storm arrives and you are already there

If the tent is failing right now, get out of it. Shoes and coats on, then into a solid building on the site, or into the car. Do not stand in the dark holding a pole, and call 999 if anyone is in immediate danger. None of the refund position further down this page matters here: staying in a failing tent buys nothing back, so get everyone somewhere solid and deal with the booking afterwards.

If there is time and it is safe, collapse the tent deliberately and weigh it down with kit, but people first. Getting out of a failing tent is not the same as going outside to repair one: once everyone is under a hard roof, nothing left on the pitch is worth going back out for. Our guide to pitching a tent in strong wind covers a pole that bends or snaps in the night.

The Camping and Caravanning Club's own order is to "move to a solid structure such as a building, or if you're tent camping, shelter in your car. If the wind becomes too strong, leave the campsite entirely."

The first rung is the site's own solid building, with or without a car: reception, the toilet block, the shower block, anything that is not fabric. Find out on your first evening where it is and whether it stays unlocked. Then the car, parked clear of trees, walls and power lines. If it is locked and you have no car, wake the warden, ring the site's out of hours number, knock on a neighbouring caravan or motorhome. Leave the site only with somewhere specific to go, and if no door opens and someone is in danger, call 999 rather than wait in the field. Children, a dog or anyone slow on their feet add minutes, so start earlier.

Leaving is a different decision in a caravan. If the worst is passing through, sitting tight in the vehicle beats towing through it, and the Caravan and Motorhome Club's line is "it's always better to arrive later than take undue risks". That is about towing, not about tents: walking to the car is right at any hour.

Do the outdoor jobs early. The Met Office is explicit: "Don't go outside to repair any damage during the storm."

Strike the awning before the wind arrives. The Caravan and Motorhome Club warns that gusts getting up under the awning roof are "the most likely time the awning will blow over the top of the caravan", and says it should come down altogether in very windy weather. Once the gusts are here, leave it: an awning is replaceable.

Pack away the loose kit while you can: the Camping and Caravanning Club's list is chairs, tables, stoves and anything decorative.

Lightning has one answer and it is not the tent. The Met Office says to find "a safe enclosed shelter, such as a car", and the only thing it says about tents is "If you are in a tent, try to stay away from the metal poles".

The Caravan and Motorhome Club answers the caravan question: "within a permanent building is best, but your leisure vehicle or car is pretty safe as long as it has a metal shell, skin or substantial frame. Metal-framed tents and awnings are risky, though, as thin poles tend to concentrate rather than disperse a lightning strike." Soft-top convertibles are the exception: the Met Office says fabric roofs could catch fire if struck.

Caught in the open with nothing to get into, the Met Office says "it may be advisable to squat close to the ground, with hands on knees and with head tucked between them", and "do not lie down on the ground". If your hair stands on end, it says to drop into that position immediately.

RoSPA's 30/30 rule sets the timing: get into the car or a solid building if flash to bang is thirty seconds or less, and stay in it, not in the tent, until thirty minutes after the last thunder.

If water is rising across the site, move before it becomes a decision: the Environment Agency's advice once a flood warning is in force is to "move to higher ground or the upper floor of a building". On a campsite that means a solid building first, on foot, then the highest hard standing. Save the open top of the field for when rising water leaves you no other way up: with thunder about, the Met Office's lightning advice runs the other way, "If you are on an elevated area move to lower ground". Never walk or drive through floodwater, and call 999 if you are in immediate danger. If the power goes with the grid, 105 is the free power cut line in England, Scotland and Wales.

What cancelling actually costs

No large UK operator gives you a weather-based right to a refund: their extreme-weather clauses fire when the operator cancels or closes a site, not when you decide the forecast is too much. All published wording at the time of writing.

The Camping and Caravanning Club refunds a member in full 29 days or more before the first day; cancel "at least 1 day but less than 28 days" before and the deposit goes but the remainder comes back. Non-members fare worse: one who has paid in full and cancels inside seven days gets nothing.

One Camping and Caravanning Club clause bites harder: leaving early or abandoning the booking means "no refunds shall be payable to you".

Inside 21 days the Caravan and Motorhome Club keeps the deposit, and not turning up without telling them costs more than that: its no-show clause takes everything paid, and where the balance was due on arrival "you remain liable in full".

So decide and ring as early as you can, because none of this gets cheaper as the date closes. At the Camping and Caravanning Club a member's remaining balance is taken "on the morning of the first day of your Booking Period", and if you then do not arrive, "all monies will be retained". Your own operator's deadline is not something to discover on the day.

The Caravan and Motorhome Club's terms leave more room for a change of place than a change of date, but not a guarantee: its headline says "Switch Club campsites without loss of deposit - anytime before arrival date", while inside 21 days the clause itself says only that "we may be able to" move you, Club campsite to Club campsite, with the dates unchanged. If it cannot help and you then do not go, that counts as a cancellation by you.

Two clubs are not every operator, so read the cancellation ladder on your own booking.

Insurance depends on your policy wording. MoneySavingExpert warns that policies commonly exclude "recoverable costs", so expect to have to show the site would not refund you first, and nothing published makes a named storm or an amber warning a payout trigger.

Where people get this wrong

Waiting for a flood warning. A flood alert usually arrives 2 to 12 hours ahead, a flood warning 30 minutes to 2 hours. That is an evacuation timescale: decide on the rain forecast and the pitch instead.

Where to check, in order

All live when this was written. If one of them looks stale, cross-check it against the Met Office app.

Frequently asked questions

Is an amber wind warning a reason to cancel a camping trip?

For a tent, that is our line: amber wind over the pitch is a change of plan rather than something to weigh up on the night. The Met Office's own amber wording ranges from thinking about changing your plans to changing them. For a caravan or van, open the Further Details matrix, strike the awning, and treat the drive as its own decision.

Does a wind speed decide whether to cancel a camping trip?

No official UK threshold exists: Met Office warnings are based on impact rather than wind speed. The only figure from a UK authority is the Camping and Caravanning Club's, that most tents are designed to handle winds up to 25 to 30 mph, and the Club warns that anything stronger risks both the tent and your safety.

Can I get a refund on a campsite booking because of a storm?

Usually not as a right: operators' extreme-weather clauses apply when the operator cancels or closes the site, not when you call it off. Cancelling well ahead costs nothing at both clubs we checked; closer in you lose the deposit, and leaving early or not turning up can cost the whole booking. The deposit is not the ceiling, so ring as soon as you have decided and read the ladder on your own booking.

Is a caravan safe in a thunderstorm?

A permanent building is best. The Caravan and Motorhome Club says a leisure vehicle or car is pretty safe if it has a metal shell, skin or substantial frame, while metal-framed tents and awnings are risky because thin poles concentrate a strike.