We haven't been away with caravan since end of September mainly cause of unpredictable weather. I took our van out Friday afternoon for weekend to a site a 25 min drive away. Had a good weekend but yesterday and again today the wind really picked up and I didn't fancy the idea of towing caravan. We have left it on the pitch and come to an arrangement with site owner to go back next weekend and then bring it home the Sunday.
Question- How do you make a decision whether it is ok to tow or not? What are the factors to look at?
This site lets you put in an area or postcode and will give you the forecast average windspeed and gust speeds. I would say if the gusts are over 40mph you may have problems and you will need to go slower at that speed as well.
Doesn't affect our big drawbar turntable trailer, it has a wheel at each corner and when we are going to shows it is fully laden to 3.5 tonnes, but when we had the caravans I would make a decision based on the forecasts.
It's really down to experience and how comfortable you are with caravan/car movement when driving, and also how the caravan is loaded will make a big difference.
Always err on the side of caution, the sensible option.
The weather forecast changes as you get nearer the date. We were due to go away last week and the weather looked ok to get there so we went - had a fab few days and a good journey home. If I had gone on the long term forecast I wouldn't have bothered and would have missed out. I have driven along the A1 with 60 mph cross winds and would never want to try that again so I look at alternative A road routes in case I need to avoid motorways dual carriageways due to high winds. The gusts last Friday were 30 mph ish and that was not a problem. The important thing is to only do what you feel comfortable with.