Best Tent For Rain And Wind: Ideal Shelters for Bad-Weather

The Hubba Hubba NX 2 wins our award for the best tent for all weather camping. It combines durability, high waterproofing, a lightweight design, and ample space for two people plus gear.

The Hubba Hubba weighs in at just 3.5 pounds and packs down to 18 x 6 inches. Despite this, it offers ample living space and uses tough enough materials to excel in wet and windy weather conditions.

The inner tent is made with DWR-coated, high-tenacity nylon and has a 15-denier mesh roof for ventilation. A 1,200 mm, 20-denier ripstop rain fly and 3,000mm, 30-denier bathtub floor and integrated rain gutters make it waterproof enough for even the gnarliest 3-season conditions, while its Easton Syclone poles provide great stability in heavy wind.

We also loved how easy this excellent tent is to pitch – when the weather’s wild, after all, you want setup to be as quick as possible. Thanks to its unified hub-and-pole system, use of color-coded clips, and intuitive design, we were able to transform it from packed to pitched in roughly 2-3 minutes.

The Hubba Hubba does have a few downsides…

The most notable is the aforementioned shortage of interior space. While this is to be expected with models geared towards backpacking, you might want a little more for car camping. The lack of factory-sealed seams also means you’ll have to proof them yourself before heading out in wet weather.

The Flytop 2-Person Backpacking Tent is a great bargain-buy for budget-seeking campers. Despite its low price, it offers good rain and wind protection, a range of convenient features, and is made from surprisingly durable materials.

The Flytop’s waterproof, double-wall design and features like a snow skirt and burlier fabric make it ideal for camping trips in three- and even four-season conditions. The anti-tear checkered polyester fabric is also tough enough to deal with strong winds and survive any coming-together with stray branches or debris blown about in the breeze.

The dome-style design of the Flytop and its strong aluminum tent poles together make it more aerodynamic and a solid performer in harsh winds.

The Flytop is, however, heavy, bulky, and a little short on space, weighing in at almost 6 lbs. and boasting a mere 24 square feet of floor space and a peak height of just 39.3 inches. Its shortage of mesh panels also means it lacks ventilation and makes it overkill for camping in warmer conditions.

The North Face WAWONA 6 stands out as our preferred choice for a family tent, maximizing internal space in every possible way.

It maximizes its ample interior space to give much-needed comfort to campers who don’t want to deal with cramped sleeping arrangements. It also has a high ceiling that allows even taller adults to walk around inside without hunching and a massive front vestibule for storing gear and even lounging.

The new, updated version of the Wawona 6 is also a strong performer in wind and rain compared to its predecessor. The previous version had only a partial-coverage rainfly, whereas the new version has a full-coverage fly and re-engineered poles that both simplify setup and boost stability in strong winds.

The Wawona offers a very generous 86 square feet of floor space (enough for two queen air mattresses), has an enormous, 44.7 sq. ft. vestibule, boasts a peak height of 80”, and has plenty of storage pockets that help keep the floor free of clutter. All of the above makes it one of the roomiest and most livable six-person tents out there.

And the downsides? Well, we would’ve appreciated more than one door, but given that the entryway in the Wawona is big enough to drive a car through, it would feel a little nitpicky to grumble at this minor shortcoming.

If you like the look of the Wawona 6 but don’t need quite so much space, check out the Wawona 4.

The ALPS Mountaineering Taurus 4-Person Tent emerges as a superb budget-friendly option for use in wet and windy conditions, even outperforming some of its pricier competitors.

So, what makes the Taurus a standout?

Well, while a little on the heavy side (10 lbs. 8 oz.), a lot of those extra ounces translate into superb waterproofing and durability. It boasts a 75D 185T polyester fly with a 1,500mm waterproof coating and a 2,000mm bathtub style floor that extends up to 4 inches to keep groundwater out. While the poles are fiberglass, they’re thick enough to withstand strong winds.

The fly on the Taurus also buckles on for maximum protection and minimal flapping when conditions are blustery, while the two-door design ensures you have a dry/drier spot to cook in or change into shoes when the wind’s blowing the wet stuff sideways.

The Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 mtnGLO is our top choice for an ultralight rain and wind-resistant bolthole for backpacking trips.

The Copper Spur tips the scales at a teeny 3 lbs. 3oz., but is relatively roomy, has two doors and two vestibules, and is solid in crummy conditions.

It uses double rip-stop, mixed-denier nylon fabric for added tear strength and puncture resistance, and a pre-bent span pole and high-volume pole hub design to increase strength and stability. Both the fly and the floor also have a 1,200mm waterproof polyurethane coating to ensure you don’t spring any leaks.

While there is a slightly cheaper, regular version of the Copper Spur, we chose this version because the mtnGLO technology is well worth having. This feature takes the form of LED lights integrated into the seams that illuminate the interior with the click of a button. While this may seem like an unnecessary frill, it’s mightily handy for late-night reading and card games!

Other nice features include the ability to suspend the doors outwards to create extended awnings, the wealth of mixed-sized interior pockets, and a massive “mezzanine” pocket that provides extra off-the-floor storage.

Finding any flaws with the Copper Spur would be nitpicking, but it is worth pointing out that its peak height (38”) might make it a little claustrophobic for taller campers.

The 6-Person Kelty Discovery Element is a great value, reliable shelter for wet ‘n’ windy conditions.

Like all Kelty tents, the Discovery lacks a few bells and whistles but covers its bottom line very well. In this case, that means you get a sturdy and waterproof 6-person shelter sans frills like gear lofts, awnings, or sophisticated storage, but a very practical one nonetheless.

At 15 lbs., the Discovery is the second heaviest model on our list. However, it makes up for this shortcoming (or excess) with ample floor space, a great peak height (77”), and a super-sturdy pole structure that lends stability in windy conditions. The only quibble we have is that the poles are made from fiberglass, so they’re more prone to breakage during transportation.

The Kodiak Canvas Flex-Bow 6-Person tent is our preferred option for those seeking a canvas model designed to handle windy and wet conditions.

Canvas tents tend to split opinion. On the one hand, they’re back-breakingly heavy and about as packable as your average adult cadaver. On the other hand, they’re the burliest tents in the business, waterproof, extra-sturdy, and standout performers in suboptimal conditions.

This pretty much sums up the Kodiak Flex Bow. It’s exceptionally durable, tough as nails (almost), and laughs in the face of gnarly winds and biblical rain. It also, however, weighs a proverbial ton (64.5 lbs. to be more exact).

The Flex Bow’s walls are made with Kodiak’s breathable, silicone-treated, 8.5-ounce Hydra-Shield canvas, and the floor from polyester-reinforced 16-ounce vinyl. This gives it a certain old-school style and makes it just about as rugged, durable, and rain-resistant as they come. The alloy steel poles also make it able to withstand winds of up to 50 mph.

The Flex-Bow also gives you a whopping 100 square feet of floor space, meaning there’s more than enough room for 6 adults plus gear. Add to this its 6.6-foot ceiling height and a large awning that extends from the doorway, and you have one of the most livable tents on our list.

Beyond its weight, the only real downside to this durable tent is the lack of a vestibule to store gear in. That said, the interior is so spacious that you’ll only really miss it if you max out the capacity with sleepers.