Defining Severe Weather

Storms, high winds, hurricanes – Florida is a lovely place to live most of the time, but it has its share of severe weather moments. In our blog series on engineered tents, we have explored the many factors of planning, wind mitigation, wind load ratings, and other key topics that rental companies and tent manufacturers work together on to develop safe, unforgettable events. In this chapter, we will delve into defining severe weather events and the guidelines that are currently followed by the industry to ensure public safety as well as event success in outdoor spaces.

How much wind can my tent withstand?

Wind load, or wind rating, is essentially a guideline that describes at what wind speed a tent can safely withstand. As we’ve learned during our content series – wind rating can change significantly based on several variables including geography, elevation, topography, urban vs rural environments, and a myriad of variables that exist at the installation site.

“Even if your engineered tents can withstand a wind rating of 80-90 miles per hour, for example, that doesn’t mean to say that you should continue to keep the event open during a weather event of that nature.” explains Matt Perra, owner and lead product engineer at Tent Renters Supply.

The National Weather Service defines as a severe weather event at 38 miles an hour, and therefore that’s a recommendation to evacuate and dismount a tent as an organization.

Do I need an emergency evacuation plan during a severe weather event?

It goes without saying that safety is the number one priority for any event that attracts people – whether it’s an indoor or outdoor event, your company should have a strategy and process for quickly and efficiently moving people out and away.

Therefore, we help our clients by pointing them to a wind mitigation plan – a document that explains what to do in the case of an emergency or evacuation – and a previous topic in our Wind Loading series.

If you are in the tent rental business or event industry and need guidance, Tent Renters Supply can help! We have specialized in providing custom, commercial tents for our clients for the last three decades, across the nation. We provide both engineered tents and non-engineered tents to satisfy our partners’ requirements. Contact us today for more information.