(3.5) Wind effects

[Epinephrine]

Curious as to how DMs handle wind. I've looked at the DMG tables, and spell descriptions, but I still have questions.

For example, the wind can "create a stinging spray of sand" or "heel a small boat", some spells refer to wind doing all the things a wind of that strength could do, overturning tents, blowing down huts, etc. The note on various wind strengths include notes like "Powerful enough to bring down branches, if not whole trees", or "Hurricane-force winds often fell trees" and even "A tornado uproots trees, destroys buildings, and causes other similar forms of major destruction."

Now, with that said, how do winds interact with things? If the wind is strong enough to uproot trees, and there are trees around, should this be a hazard to those in the area?
How much structural damage do these winds cause?
It mentions ranged attacks like arrows, and siege projectiles too; what about a dragon's breath weapon (I can't see flames getting through for example), or spell effects?
Can one see through winds, and to what extent? Listen checks are mentioned, but if it is whipping up dust/sand/throwing trees around, it might be hard to see through.

Just trying to get a feel for these things before using them in game, thanks in advance.

[Deth Muncher]

I don't have it on me, but Sandstorm had rules about this sort of thing. Something about strong winds that have sand and such imposing negatives on Listen, Spot, and Dex based checks.

[Another_Poet]

For visibility treat everything as having partial concealment (20% miss chance). You can also impose a penalty on Spot checks (I'd say +10 to the DC is fair) or make it easier and just apply the 20% failure to Spot checks as well as attacks (that one is not RAW though).

For trees, etc. roll a random chance each round that each character is hit with debris. If it's a hurricane in an area with a lot of debris then use a d6 or something, with a 6 being debris. If it's less intense use a d12 or d20 and a 12 or 20 is debris. If a character is supposed to be hit with debris give them a ref save to avoid (or halve, your choice). I would look at a falling bricks/falling rocks trap of the appropriate CR in the traps section of the DMG to determine appropriate damage and ref save DC. I believe hurricanes are CR8 but don't quote me.

For weapon interference, it's your call. I'd say it interferes with anything that either a) requires a ranged attack roll or b) involves an energy or substance that is normally affected by wind. That means most breath weapons, all rays & orbs, and anything with fire/water/acid/sonic would get interference. Magic missile, electricity, and cold would not (I know, wind affects cold but it usually makes cold worse so I wouldn't have a high wind interfere with cold damage).

Just my thought.

[Signmaker]

Mostly, I follow the DMG on Wind Effects, except when cinematically appropriate. For example, a Bard/Stormsinger using their Stormsong(Control Winds) power to turn a room full of dead air in to hurricane-strength winds, everything not bolted down or subject to fort saves was flying around.