The best example I have is back in 2013. I was camping with my friends at Mosport for the American LeMans weekend. The track staff was going around warning people that were was a storm coming. We brought the kitchen down to as low as we could go and covered it in warps; same with my change room. As for the tent, I just folded down the side flaps except the one on the ladder side. My friends were in tents on the ground. I ran a 12v extension to the tent and we watched a movie and we kept ourselves busy. We honestly barely felt a thing. Two my of friends had their tents break. I was watching as my one buddy's tent was folding and colapsing down on him and blowing back up like a balloon. Many people, and my friends, had their portable shelters break. I may not be able to share (FB) my friend's video, but I can take a screenshot to give you an idea of the aftermath.
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To add to my windy experiences, at the same place and the same event, we had another wind storm/thunderstorm, which we would say was worse then this one from 2013 since it was part of a tornado cell that came through! This time, we had no warning. It was also my first official use of my awning, and with the sides. It was a light rain all evening, we were 3 left at the fire, and decided to go check on the awning before heading to bed around 11:30pm. As I walk in, a HUGE windstorm kicks up, and I'm holding on to one of the poles of the awning to stop it from flying us, finding out that the twist-lock poles can't handle that kind of force. My girlfriend had went to bed early, and she's maybe a foot or two away from me. I was yelling for her help on this cause I was holding it down pretty hard. Little did I know, she was also yelling for my help since the RTT was trying to fold in half with her inside of it; the wind was coming directly towards the front of the RTT and in 8 years, I've never had this happen. After the wind died down enough that we could hear each other, she came down (but didn't close the door on the RTT :/) I held both (now outside in the downpour) while the GF gets my bucket of ropes. I tie down the ladder of the RTT to the rim of the wheel of the trailer and close the door. Since the the twist-lock couldn't handle enough force, I took out some old camping gazebo legs (scavenged from the broken gazebo's left from the 2013 storm) that I bring with me for tarp/awning/shelter legs (cause I like to prepare for everything), and since they're pinned, I use that to support the awning as opposed to the twist-lock legs since they'll hold up. Everything survived, and I had gotten soaked, and learned to use a strap on the ladder of the RTT in case, and that I got pins for the poles for the awning. I had installed some permanent LED lighting in the awning the week of before leaving, and it was a godsend to have that and not have to fight with, and try to look for a flashlight in the midst of the chaos. My friends who were downhill/downwind swear that we blocked much of the wind for them and all their stuff survived, but told me that (the point where I was in the awning area and my girlfriend in the tent) there was some serious hail, and my buddy and his friend had gotten a shock while holding down their gazebos from a close strike of lightning. Sadly we won't know the actual wind speeds since the weather station closest to us registered an N/A for that hour (go figure), but the next closest one registered 50km/h bursts, and that one was 30km away as the bird flies. With that, it makes me want to build a weather station for my trailer so I can actually record events like that.
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The second wind-related incident of this years was with the awning itself during our 12-day trip. After spending time getting unstuck on a beach, my girlfriend was anxious to get the camp setup, but it was quite windy, so I needed her help, and her help wasn't helpful, cause rather help hold the integrated awning poles from the wind, the decided to hold the loose part of the material which didn't need to be held, the wind caught under it and snapped 2 of the hinges. I was not pleased, especially that it meant no more awning for the next several days remaining of the trip.
