Interesting and useful website

[mcbutler]

Hi all,

Discovered this the other day, its a website that gives wind at all altitudes.
Interesting to play with, I found one example with a surface wind of 9Kmh and at 150m it was over 70Kph!
Good knowledge if you are planning long flights.

Its here earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions

Click the EARTH button, bottom left, click and drag the globe to your location and select your options in the displayed box.
Sfc is 'surface' inn height options

You can use this calculator to work out the hpa values given in 'height' to altitude.http://www.csgnetwork.com/pressurealtcalc.html

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Here's another handy site, one that allows you get the view closer to the planet. Use the Slider on the right side for elevation (currently, the winds 1000m up are different than at the Surface):

Professional weather forecast

50+ weather layers, weather radar and satellite

www.windy.com

Chris

 

[ChipDjipro]

I just checked the weather report anything over 20 mph down low I don’t fly. Because I know it’s going to be a lot more the higher I go up.

 

[Hegemone]

I use the UAV Forcast app to do my checks quickly. You can set threshols and altitudes that are then color coded for quick visual reference.

For general weather, wind maps, and even sectional layers MyRadar app for Android is pretty sweet as well. Since apple purchased Darksky I wanted a new app for approaching precipitation warnings and MyRadar is so much cooler than dark sky was and the notifications are spot on, time wise.

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I just checked the weather report anything over 20 mph down low I don’t fly. Because I know it’s going to be a lot more the higher I go up.

It still helps if a) the winds at the surface are low enough for you to fly and b) if you're going to fly a distance, you want to know about returning headwinds (different speed and direction than what's on the ground).

Chris

 

[ChipDjipro]

I always try to fly when I take off against the wind coming back I like to have the wind on my back as we all know much easier coming home. That’s what I love about the Inspire doesn’t matter which way I go I got plenty of power to come back. Lol

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

I always try to fly when I take off against the wind coming back I like to have the wind on my back as we all know much easier coming home. That’s what I love about the Inspire doesn’t matter which way I go I got plenty of power to come back. Lol

So, the place you're flying to (and the things you photograph) are dictated by whatever direction the wind is blowin'?

Chris

 

[mcbutler]

Here's another handy site, one that allows you get the view closer to the planet. Use the Slider on the right side for elevation (currently, the winds 1000m up are different than at the Surface):

Professional weather forecast

50+ weather layers, weather radar and satellite

www.windy.com

Chris

there is an Ios app called windy which is also good, dont know if its on spamdroid though

 

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

there is an Ios app called windy which is also good, dont know if its on spamdroid though

Thanks, I loaded it up. It looks like the same app/service, same icon, same look to the UI. The surface slider is in the triple-bar menu.

Chris

 

[ChipDjipro]

So, the place you're flying to (and the things you photograph) are dictated by whatever direction the wind is blowin'?

Chris

Not always no. That is why I don’t fly anything over 20 mile an hour winds. It’s worked all these years with zero problems. I fly for the fun of it. 90% of the time I fly in sport mode anyway. Fly it like you stole it. Lol

 

[Dave Maine]

Note that any forecast is just that - a forecast. The facts on the ground, or air in this case may be very different. The only completely valid wind speed data comes from the drone itself, which is derived from the amount of effort it has to apply to maintain position.

 

[Ralph thompson]

Wind speeds/directions from apps are only approximations. This is why big airports always monitor local winds very carefully and update METARS hourly or more frequently. Advice about restricting flights to below the max.( 10mps) are very wise, things that will catch u out are the local ground effects such as around buildings, around hills and valleys. The wind can be substantially higher in these places and can far exceed your ability to control yr machine.

 

[Andrex]

I check www.ventusky.com although it may be getting wind data from the same source, I'm not sure. It also provides forecasts for wind speeds at different altitudes.

 

[Hodge]

Awesome I didn't know about several of these apps, the UAV Forcast app looks to be a really useful app.
In my search for the UAV Forcast app I found this article "7 Must-Have Apps for Drone Pilots" which reviewed the UAV Forcast app and had several others that I'm going to take a look at particularly the Sun Surveyor app,
That one look like it could be really helpful in planning a flight around how the sun will be effecting the location.
The articles URL is at:

7 Must-Have Apps for Drone Pilots -

Must-have list of my favorite smartphone apps for drone pilots.

fromwhereidrone.com

 

[i.kelly1963]

Awesome I didn't know about several of these apps, the UAV Forcast app looks to be a really useful app.
In my search for the UAV Forcast app I found this article "7 Must-Have Apps for Drone Pilots" which reviewed the UAV Forcast app and had several others that I'm going to take a look at particularly the Sun Surveyor app,
That one look like it could be really helpful in planning a flight around how the sun will be effecting the location.
The articles URL is at:

7 Must-Have Apps for Drone Pilots -

Must-have list of my favorite smartphone apps for drone pilots.

fromwhereidrone.com

That's a really useful link... Cheers!