Bizarre Wind Event

[Carlos56]

I experienced a very strange wind event recently while flying in Southern Ontario, Canada. I was practicing some quickshots and video with my new Air 2S on a nice calm sunny afternoon, just a few clouds and a 10 mph wind from the west, gusting to 15mph. With the drone 100 feet up and about 200 feet away, the wind suddenly picked up. It became a sustained wind of (I estimate over 25 mph and increasing). I immediately dropped altitude and flew back. As the wind kept increasing I landed and powered off. The wind then switched 180 degrees in direction and built to what I estimate was at least a 40 mph wind from the east.

Other than the wind speed and direction, nothing had changed. Still just a few clouds drifting slowly across the sky from the west. But the trees were bending over in the wind. I don't know how big an area was affected, and the whole event lasted about 3 to 4 minutes before it returned to the calm conditions again.

I wondered if others had experienced or heard of such an event. I assume it was similar to a large dust devil, though there is no dust to pick up here.

It made me realize that though it must be rare, it is possible to have a sustained invisible wind event capable of causing a flyaway. The Air 2S might have handled it in sport mode, but I think my Mavic Mini would have ended up in the next County.

 

[Tentoes]

Fortunately, such wind events are not common. though we had quite a time in Dillon Colorado last fall.

 

[kshaw]

Sounds like a front passing with the wind direction shift.

 

[timinator]

It was a cold front. Wind equals air pressure redistribution. It moved in pretty quickly. It's important to check the forecast rather than just looking outside as conditions can change quickly. I had a new battery to test in my P4, took one look at the forecast, and decided to hold off.

 

[jspil]

I experienced a very strange wind event recently while flying in Southern Ontario, Canada. I was practicing some quickshots and video with my new Air 2S on a nice calm sunny afternoon, just a few clouds and a 10 mph wind from the west, gusting to 15mph. With the drone 100 feet up and about 200 feet away, the wind suddenly picked up. It became a sustained wind of (I estimate over 25 mph and increasing). I immediately dropped altitude and flew back. As the wind kept increasing I landed and powered off. The wind then switched 180 degrees in direction and built to what I estimate was at least a 40 mph wind from the east.

Other than the wind speed and direction, nothing had changed. Still just a few clouds drifting slowly across the sky from the west. But the trees were bending over in the wind. I don't know how big an area was affected, and the whole event lasted about 3 to 4 minutes before it returned to the calm conditions again.

I wondered if others had experienced or heard of such an event. I assume it was similar to a large dust devil, though there is no dust to pick up here.

It made me realize that though it must be rare, it is possible to have a sustained invisible wind event capable of causing a flyaway. The Air 2S might have handled it in sport mode, but I think my Mavic Mini would have ended up in the next County.

I had a similar experience during what I thought was a mild thunderstorm. I was not flying at the time, actually I was at work. I am an HVAC/R mechanic and I drive a full size van that's full of tools and materials. What I experienced was a micro burst I later found out. I thought my work van was going flip on to its side. It only lasted 3-4 minutes, but almost soiled my self while it was happening.

 

[timinator]

I had a similar experience during what I thought was a mild thunderstorm. I was not flying at the time, actually I was at work. I am an HVAC/R mechanic and I drive a full size van that's full of tools and materials. What I experienced was a micro burst I later found out. I thought my work van was going flip on to its side. It only lasted 3-4 minutes, but almost soiled my self while it was happening.

Microbursts are bad. When the Boeing 727s were regular passengers jets in Toronto, at least two of them rotated 90 degrees while parked at terminals in separate events. One of them hit part of the old terminal 1 which creased the skin (surprised there wasn't more than $1.5 million damage) and the other one just turned 90 degrees not hitting anything because the next gate was empty.

There were cabin cleaners on the jet that hit the building and one of them had the crap scared out of her since she was about to get off the jet when it started to spin and all she saw was the boarding bridge moving away from her. The other airplane was closed up for the night. It was a wild sight to see it parallel to the terminal!

 

[cgmaxed]

Sounds like a front passing with the wind direction shift.

Agreed. I ask the OP (original poster). Did the temperature change during and after the wind subsided?

 

[jspil]

Microbursts are bad. When the Boeing 727s were regular passengers jets in Toronto, at least two of them rotated 90 degrees while parked at terminals in separate events. One of them hit part of the old terminal 1 which creased the skin (surprised there wasn't more than $1.5 million damage) and the other one just turned 90 degrees not hitting anything because the next gate was empty.

There were cabin cleaners on the jet that hit the building and one of them had the crap scared out of her since she was about to get off the jet when it started to spin and all she saw was the boarding bridge moving away from her. The other airplane was closed up for the night. It was a wild sight to see it parallel to the terminal!

Wow, luckily it mostly caused property damage. The weirdest thing is that it seemed to come out of nowhere. There was a small T-storm about seven miles away but that was it.one minutes it was calm and I'm doing some paperwork and the next minute I thought I was going to Oz.

 

[Cymruflyer]

Wow, luckily it mostly caused property damage. The weirdest thing is that it seemed to come out of nowhere. There was a small T-storm about seven miles away but that was it.one minutes it was calm and I'm doing some paperwork and the next minute I thought I was going to Oz.

It is coming towards you but because it is in clear air, it seems to come out of no where. Usually the direction is west to east or NW to SE. And also remember that if you are flying and a thunderstorm is way off in the distance, that a gust front from a big thunder storm can shoot out 50 miles ahead of an approaching storm.

And don't go by what the wind feels like on the ground either. I was a flight instructor and would warm new pilots that thought a thunder storm was moving away from them, never to go flying for a quick few minutes before going home, as we often do, if there is a thunderstorm any where in the vicinity, even looking far off.

What often fools new pilots is the fact that they see a thunderstorm way off to the west, for example, and the ground wind is coming from the east, heading toward that thunderstorm. The inexperienced pilot might think, and some of you reading here may also think, that the storm is moving away from you heading further west. Therefore, it is safe to take to the sky as long as they keep slightly east or stay above the airport, for a quickly little flight before heading home.

This is where the danger lies, because what is actually happening, is that that big thunderstorm is gather power/energy and as it builds it needs more volume so it is sucking up all the air from below it, in all directions. Like a huge vacuum cleaner sucking up everything around its base. It may well be heading straight for you from the west, yet to you on the ground, the wind feels like it is being pulled from the east (and it will be pulling from the west and the north and south under this storm) to fool the pilot on the ground into thinking it is moving away from them. Some pilots have taken off and stayed just to the east (in this example) and when they turn to return back to the airport, they find that the storm is now almost over their airport and they can't get back to land there.

 

[tlswift58]

It was a cold front. Wind equals air pressure redistribution. It moved in pretty quickly. It's important to check the forecast rather than just looking outside as conditions can change quickly. I had a new battery to test in my P4, took one look at the forecast, and decided to hold off.

Yes, UAV and other apps provide "key" wind info, esp gusts. Yet, I've found some pretty big differences between the apps and their "predictions." I've got my UAV set at like 25 mph tops on gusts and it give a BIG RED warning - DO NOT FLY when checked for that time period.

Also noticed a daily event at from about 2 pm to 3:30pm that sats drop below the 10 sats minimum here in Western NC / N GA. Not had any real issues flying during that time frame and not lost sat lock either.

Good thing they've never been to West Texas, like Amarillo. Weather can go from 80 degrees to 20 with snow and mass winds in like an hour.

 

[360 Guy]

Well, I'm glad I'm not alone on this.
All I have to do is mention the words "fly" or "drone" and the wind automatically kicks up to 20 mph.

 

[Carlos56]

Agreed. I ask the OP (original poster). Did the temperature change during and after the wind subsided?

No, there was no change in temperature before, during or after. I'm familiar with fronts coming through, and this was very different. Very localized. It was not related to thunderstorms either, as there was no such activity, and the conditions were not right for a storm - gentle breeze, a few stratus clouds drifting gently. The microburst is also associated with thunderstorms I believe.

From all my research, I still think it was a dust devil (minus the dust). The conditions under which they form seem about right: "A dust devil usually forms in an area of flat terrain on a warm and sunny to mostly sunny afternoon, with light winds and colder air aloft in the atmosphere."

 

[Carlos56]

Here's a picture from just before it happened (about 3:30 pm)...

 

[dronerdave]

No, there was no change in temperature before, during or after. I'm familiar with fronts coming through, and this was very different. Very localized. It was not related to thunderstorms either, as there was no such activity, and the conditions were not right for a storm - gentle breeze, a few stratus clouds drifting gently. The microburst is also associated with thunderstorms I believe.

From all my research, I still think it was a dust devil (minus the dust). The conditions under which they form seem about right: "A dust devil usually forms in an area of flat terrain on a warm and sunny to mostly sunny afternoon, with light winds and colder air aloft in the atmosphere."

I had a similar event happen to me with my MP. The only difference was I saw a unique cloud formation coming at us that was more of a front. The clouds were similar to your pic but the front clouds were a solid line streaking towards our launch point. It seemed to approach at high speeds so I flew the drone back ASAP. It went from dead calm to 30MPH almost instantly. Made landing a bit difficult.
I would say your situation does sound like a dust devil. I fly a lot of RC fixed wing and get these often. Glider pilots (and birds) seem to really like em, but they can cause a lot of issues. Had a guys pit canopy lift off the ground, flew over a couple of cars and landed on my van. Usually it hits a line people as the devil moves through but this time it was like something reached out of the sky, picked up his canopy and deposited it on my vehicle. Argg.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

I experienced a very strange wind event recently while flying in Southern Ontario, Canada. I was practicing some quickshots and video with my new Air 2S on a nice calm sunny afternoon, just a few clouds and a 10 mph wind from the west, gusting to 15mph. With the drone 100 feet up and about 200 feet away, the wind suddenly picked up. It became a sustained wind of (I estimate over 25 mph and increasing). I immediately dropped altitude and flew back. As the wind kept increasing I landed and powered off. The wind then switched 180 degrees in direction and built to what I estimate was at least a 40 mph wind from the east.

Other than the wind speed and direction, nothing had changed. Still just a few clouds drifting slowly across the sky from the west. But the trees were bending over in the wind. I don't know how big an area was affected, and the whole event lasted about 3 to 4 minutes before it returned to the calm conditions again.

I wondered if others had experienced or heard of such an event. I assume it was similar to a large dust devil, though there is no dust to pick up here.

It made me realize that though it must be rare, it is possible to have a sustained invisible wind event capable of causing a flyaway. The Air 2S might have handled it in sport mode, but I think my Mavic Mini would have ended up in the next County.

In Melbourne, we call them cool changes as they are usually experienced on hot days when a cold front rapidly moves in. Temperature can drop from 38 degrees c to 22 in a few minutes

 

[Carlos56]

Interesting. Do they have a sudden switch in wind direction by 180 degrees. It wasn't just a wind increase but it reversed direction in the middle of the event. There was no temperature change with it. So I don't think it was the passing of a front.
The more I researched I became convinced it was a dust devil (mini hot air tornado). I saw similar sudden wind events on YouTube captured by people launching paragliders. I think that community is very familiar with them.
Just thought it might explain some flyaways since it could be quite local to the drone. If it was a few hundred meters away, you might not even see the phenomenon.

 

[Crouching Leopard]

Interesting. Do they have a sudden switch in wind direction by 180 degrees. It wasn't just a wind increase but it reversed direction in the middle of the event. There was no temperature change with it. So I don't think it was the passing of a front.
The more I researched I became convinced it was a dust devil (mini hot air tornado). I saw similar sudden wind events on YouTube captured by people launching paragliders. I think that community is very familiar with them.
Just thought it might explain some flyaways since it could be quite local to the drone. If it was a few hundred meters away, you might not even see the phenomenon.

Much of your experience is also what you get in a cool change. Guess there are many weather phenomonen that can cause similar effects. Here, we get huge trees toppled over.

 

[Cymruflyer]

They only call them dust devils when you can actually see the dust being picked up and spun in that mini tornado. They can happen out in a lake as well and then they call them water spouts, because you can see them picking up the water and spinning it.

From what you described, I would agree with you that it was probably a dust devil that was not in a dusty area, so was more or less, a clear/clean (dust free) air. They come in all different sizes, so you may well have experienced a big one and as it came through, you were experiencing the wind on one side of it and as it passed through you, the opposite side and wind was experienced, hence the 180 degree wind direction change.

Since you could not see the wind movement with no dust in it, you were not able to comprehend what was going in in the air around you. When I used to live up in the mountains in Colorado, while out flying, I would every now and then, see a dust devil off in the distance and from the air, I could see more of what it was doing on the ground and the size of it. I never wanted to venture into it, so kept well clear.

Bear in mind that sometimes a large thermal can give you some weird clear air wind effects. Thermals in summer with a sky like the one you showed, can build on the ground and then when large enough, they break off and head up to join a cloud, or form their own cloud.

There are lots of different types of thermals as well. Some are cone shaped, some a broken thermals and some are round ball shaped. Some just form a hot bubble and break off and move up into the sky, while others can break free of the ground yet start to bounce along the ground, like a giant invisible ball, gaining mass as it moved across the ground until it gets enough energy to suddenly launch into the air and keep going up.

A great way to actually see the wind in summer, is when you are flying along and you see a huge wheat field or maybe soya bean field and the long green grasses are swirling below you. You can see the patterns and shapes the wind is making through that long grass and you begin to get a picture of exactly what is going on, on the ground. You cannot see this from ground level, you need to be up in the sky in an aircraft, looking down, to be able to see this. It's a great little show and fun to watch from above. It is amazing how much the wind is blowing all around, when you can actually see it in tall grass. I never got tired of watching the wind on the ground, like that.

 

[WyomingCB]

Dust Devil without the dust, I would agree. We see those (usually with the dust) often and year round in Wyoming.

I've seen them on lakes with water, on plains with dust, smoke or snow. Even seen them in hills/mountains with fire and smoke.

Seems perfectly logical to me that if the ground is frozen or wet and otherwise "free of litter" and the air is relatively clean; a person might not even know there was a Snonado or Dust devil or Fire funnel....whatever we wanna call them.

It would be awesome footage if we could catch them.