Tarps and wind

I agree – pitching into the wind has limited utility because the wind can shift

If the wind blows from the ocean, lake, or open area, it will be unimpeded by surface terrain so the wind will be faster, so you could assume the wind comes from there when you pitch the tent.

Or, you can pitch your tent in a treed area lower down on the mountain rather than an open area on a ridge because the wind will be less strong.

Pitch the tarp lower and it will resist wind better

If a tarp has a high open side, then that will be less resistant, better to have a tarp with all sides low to the ground

Oregon and Washington coasts can have high winds, couple times my tent stakes have come out, sandy soil has something to do with that

"If the wind blows from the ocean, lake, or open area, it will be unimpeded by surface terrain so the wind will be faster, so you could assume the wind comes from there when you pitch the tent."

Not quite correct. I usually plan on a shifting wind at night, but unless there is a bad storm, it never comes from a lake at night. This is just basic meteorology. Water generally acts as a sink absorbing heat slowly during the day and releasing heat slowly at night. Without some storm driving severe weather, you cand usually count on a breeze flowing from land to the water at night. Often, at night, you can count on water mitigating winds at night, even in storms. I use a tarp all the time under these conditions, alternating between canoe hiking and trail hiking. Islands are different, being totally surrounded by water. Points act a lot like islands. But again, I set up my tarp against the night breeze anticipated, not the evening breeze (before sunset.)

I've learned a similar rule about camping in the mountains here in SoCal. There is generally a breeze going up a valley during the day which becomes still around dusk and then changes into a steady downhill flow after dark. As with the lakes it has something to do with the heating and cooling of the land relative to the air.

It rarely rains here but the tarp (or a bivy) is crucial in blocking this cold air flow at night.

Yes. Wind does shift in a storm.

What I do with my 5×9(Monk) tarp and my Meteor is in this thread:
—-Click Here—-

I actually had noticed that too Theron. Lots of times when I am hiking the thermals will move up the mountains, and at night the wind would be blowing downhill on my tent.

Steven, I had seen that thread in which you replied too, actually one of the reasons I went with a Meteor :)

Is there any general rule with the oceans? Jerry noted that the winds mainly come inland from the ocean, anyone else have thoughts on this?

I was thinking about just making sure that I usually pitch with the open end right in back of a natural windbreak, but those arent always around.

More precisely, I said that when the wind blew in from the ocean it was faster because it was un-impeded.

When the wind blows out, it's impeded by all the vegetation on the land so it's slower

If you look at the vegetation – next to the beach there are grasses, then small shrubs, very stunted pine trees, then taller pine trees,…

If you pitch your tent in the grasses area, there'll be higher winds coming from the ocean, good luck.

If you pitch your tent back a ways in the trees, the wind will be slower. The strongest winds will still be coming from the ocean.

During the day, the land is warmer, air will rise, dragging air from the ocean.

During the night it's the opposite.

But those are all slower speed winds.

Being on the left coast, the storms come in from the west, so expect your strongest winds coming from the West, from the ocean. Or a from the South or southwest because low pressure areas rotate counter-clockwise.

Unless you're in the west end of the Columbia River Gorge, in which case the strongest winds are from the east, picking up speed as they are funneled through the Gorge. One winter they took out most of the billboards along I-84 in the Troutdale area!

I find that it is hard to predict sometimes.
Even though there are general patterns that are almost always true, like the famous SW coast of CA pattern, other things can screw it up.

In conditions where there are changing weather patterns, the wind can change direction as the front passes.

As a policy, I always assume that if the weather is snotty and the forecast is for change, the wind direction will change as well.

I have seen days when gale force winds broke the normal patterns for several days and I never figured out why or how to predict it.

So I just assume that if the weather is going to be bad, I batten down the hatches. More often than not I will wake realizing that I was too cautious, but not always.

John,

What time of year will you be traveling down the coast and what part of the coast? Late fall through spring all along the coast we can have some good storms coming through. Low pressure systems in which the wind will clock around from the SSE to W as the front passes. Rain too.

But if you are coming to the west coast in the summer the Pacific High should have formed offshore of CA and all the storms will be deflected north of my area (SF) and end up in Seattle (slightly joking). From Eureka area on south you can pretty much count on a NW onshore breeze in the summer. We don't get an offshore land breeze out here in the summer very often. It's a rare occurrence and if it does happen it will be a light warm breeze. Usually it just negates or lessens the onshore flow. It's not like the some other parts of the country where you get that offshore flow at night and then mid-morning it flips over to an on-shore breeze.

BUT that NW breeze can be very strong. If you are riding a bike right on the coast anywhere from Pt. Conception north, don't be surprised if you have a few days that it is blowing 25 to 30 kts in the afternoon. That could happen at any location that is exposed such as a point or cape.

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess I will just play it safe and pitch low most of the time. I will also go on at least 4-5 practice trips before June to practice pitching and weathering storms.

Tom, I will be leaving about May 20th and will be ending my trip Around mid June. I am starting in Vancouver and ending around Fort Bragg, CA, so hopefully I dont encounter too high of winds.

I'll bet it will be windy that time of year. Last year blew pretty good from April till July.. Should be fairly dry,but…

expect some rain

the old joke is that there's frequent rain until the end of the July 4 weekend

but for that period there should be some nice days too

expect some rain
+1 Seems to peter out here mid June.

What do you think Jerry? I love late summer/early fall here. Aug-Oct.

Definitely, August through October is great

September is good, after Labor Day

Still good weather

Not so many people

Few bugs