Determining how much wind is too much is a relative thing. Winds that may be too much in one part of the country may be a normal flying day in other parts of the country. I read here about people in other parts of the country that are grounded by 15 mph winds, while that is a normal flying day here in Oklahoma. We don't usually consider it too much wind until it gets up to 25-30 mph. The only way you can get comfortable flying in high winds is get out and fly in. I wouldn't start practicing in a hurricane, but start with winds of 15-20 mph. And then when you are comfortable with that fly in more wind until you are comfortable flying in high winds. If we get high winds here 25-35 mph that are straight down the runway we will go out for a "wind fly" and play around in the wind. We all have a "wind plane" that we keep in our hangers for flying in high winds. Usually planes with thicker wings make good planes for flying in the wind. One of my favorite "tricks" to do in the wind is fly into the wing about 50'-75' above the runway, slow the throttle down until the plane loses all forward progress, and then lower the plane down to do a landing on the runway with absolutely no forward progress!! Great fun!!!!

As an FYI, even for us here Oklahoma 40 mph would be considered too much wind

Ken