Aside from buying a tent that is structurally designed to resist strong winds, you can use a few techniques to prevent your tent from being blown away. First, you want to make sure that all the main stake loops have been adequately staked down. The most important part of this is to make sure you drive the stakes into secure ground, meaning the ground that will hold the stake in place. If the ground is too loose or light, often the case with sand, loosely packed dust, and wet mud, try moving the tent to firmer ground. If moving to firmer ground is impossible, you can place heavy objects, such as rocks or logs, over the stake to help hold it down. However, this is a far from ideal situation. Once you’ve moved the stakes to the most secure ground available, ensure that the stake has been entirely driven into the ground and that the loop is secured within the hook of the stake. If the stake is easily pulled out of the ground, you may need to drive it further or reconsider the stake placement. Sometimes even slightly altering the position or angle of the stake will provide a more secure hold. Once you have secured the tent’s main stakes, you should stake down as many guy lines as possible. In the case of very heavy winds, you may want to consider using a tarp to either block the wind and add an additional staked down layer of protection. If possible, set your tent up on the leeward side of natural or man-made structures to block the wind. This could include bushes, a grouping of trees, a boulder, or even your car. Another essential tip is to make sure you don’t set your tent up with the door facing the direction the wind is blowing from. If you make this mistake, the wind will fill the tent and essentially create a parachute that could lift the tent from the stakes and blow it away when you open the door. The same piece of advice goes for any windows on the windward side of the tent. If you open them in strong enough winds, it will have the same parachute effect.