Accurately Estimating Wind Speed

I will extend Ed’s scale a little.
If the wind picks up a 55 kg girl with a 10 kg pack despite her use of two trekking poles for stability … >100 kph?

As for tents … I have a (mobile phone) video from the web of a number of pop-ups flying through the air at a folk festival (UK?). There was much desolation created.

Afterwards, someone came out of a nearby tunnel tent and said ‘Oh – we hadn’t noticed.’ Indeed, their tunnel had not moved. The stuff lying around is the remains of several other tents. Yes, I know I rabbit on about tunnels, but the video really was amusing.

Cheers

A few days ago we went on a backpack with a forecast for strong winds – so we brought an anemometer.

In a pass at 11600′ we measured gusts at 70+ mph, steady around 50 mph.

It was not possible to move safely in the gusts, but sitting low felt alright. Small pebbles went airborne. The dog had to be secured.

Ridge walking was out of the question. We just crested the pass and descended the other side.

I have been on a mountain one time in 50mph sustained winds with gusts right around 70mph (this was for work not backpacking).  I resorted to bear crawling on all fours, and even that was rather difficult.  To maintain footing in a 70mph gust you have to lean so far into the wind, you will fall on your face the moment it let’s up.

It was an incredible experience, but I pity any ultralight shelter in those kind of conditions.