My drone was caught in a sudden wind storm or SQUALL, barely could RTH. Thought I'd share the experience.

[cgmaxed]

It's a good thing you weren't shooting with your Mini. It would have been gone. Would the Air2s been powerful enough to resist? How about your Evos?

I know the EVOs are strong enough. I think the Air2S would have made it out as well. It has a pretty high wind rating and it goes 43 mph in sport mode. With its smaller profile, and my experience with it in high winds, I think it would have made it out. The MINI 1 or 2 NO WAY.

 

[MARK (LI)]

That windy app looks cool...but complicated to use...any tips on how to use it?

 

[War Bird]

Did you at least check the radar before you flew? Might be a good place to start prior to any flight just to see what's out there. You had some signs of weather from the dark clouds. Wind direction and speed are also good to know prior to flight. I know it was a squall but you kinda knew it was ugly out there. We have to many beautiful days here that we know when we need to give it 5 minutes. Glad all went well.

 

[spudster]

That windy app looks cool...but complicated to use...any tips on how to use it?

It's pretty easy to use once you get used to it. Show your area on the map. Better to show a little larger area then zoom in too close as you get a better overall view. The arrow will show the directions the wind in coming from. The colors show the strength of the wind. Not looking at the app but I believe that blue is under 10mph, green is 10-20 and orange is 20-30. If you tap on the screen a dot will show up and it gives the wind speed at the dot, you can drag the map around to see speeds in different areas. There is a slider on the bottom that you can move to get a forecast.

 

[cgmaxed]

Did you at least check the radar before you flew? Might be a good place to start prior to any flight just to see what's out there. You had some signs of weather from the dark clouds. Wind direction and speed are also good to know prior to flight. I know it was a squall but you kinda knew it was ugly out there. We have to many beautiful days here that we know when we need to give it 5 minutes. Glad all went well.

I know I f'd up. I was being lazy. Just wanted to try my new Tripltek Tablet out. I have the windy App and Radar Apps. Saw the clouds. Looked nasty. But, I figured the M2Pro was strong enough. It was, but barely. I neglected to use my usual protocols.

 

[Chaosrider2]

You didn’t mention the most important thing when running into headwinds. Use SPORT MODE!

That's a good tip, thanks!

I'm still such a newbie that I haven't even tried Sport Mode yet...

TCS

 

[War Bird]

I know I f'd up. I was being lazy. Just wanted to try my new Tripltek Tablet out. I have the windy App and Radar Apps. Saw the clouds. Looked nasty. But, I figured the M2Pro was strong enough. It was, but barely. I neglected to use my usual protocols.

I'm out of Miami and I'll put it up in challenging weather within reason. I like the higher winds but use them to my advantage. Its the rain that will have me stay grounded since my M2P is my workhorse and would hate to lose it. Stay safe!

 

[JSchneid]

I live in florida. It's rainy season now. So, we have sudden squalls and high winds preceding them. Where I was, the air was calm, but the sky didn't look too pretty. Lots of splotchy black clouds. The air was a mix of cold and hot. Not a good sign, but I took off anyway. So, I take off, and fly north. Suddenly, I'm going 46 mile per hour indicating a strong tail wind! Then I get a high wind warning. I stop the drone and turn back home. The drone would only go between 2 and 10mph. Luckily , I hadn't gone very far and I had over 80 % battery. The wind and trees around me were still calm, but in florida, the weather across the street can be totally different than that on the other side. I stayed calm, because I knew I had plenty of power and time. I made it back with 60 percent battery, but at times the drone actually got stuck at 0 mph. I kept lowering altitude, when I got to 30ft I was ok, but still only moving at 6-12mph, and now I had to contend with trees and power lines. I flew the drone manually the whole time back, I no longer trust the automated tech much. I landed it in calm winds on my balcony, but the drone was all wet. I apparently hit a squall. Didn't see that coming. It was tiny, but almost took my drone with it. It was a pain in the a** getting home though. I finally got back up to 25mph when just a few blocks away. Another day of drone fun in Florida rainy season.

EDIT: Just so everyone is on the same page:
The term "SQUALL" is used to refer to a sudden wind-speed increase lasting MINUTES. In 1962 the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) defined that to be classified as a "squall", the wind must increase at least 8 m/s and must attain a top speed of at least 11 m/s, lasting AT LEAST ONE MINUTE IN DURATION.

I had a similar experience with my Mavic 2 where it was stationary when applying full forward stick. I switched to Sport mode which applied more power.

 

[chakalakasp]

I live in FL just 20 miles north of the OP. He may have taken off into the wind and it shifted quickly or was different at different altitudes. Along the coast here we have what is called the sea breeze. That is an onshore wind that will come in over Gulf to the west. At some point inland (and you have no idea where that point is) it will collide with the easterly "land breeze" and cause squalls and thunderstorms that can pop up in minutes. The weather in SWFL is very dynamic and can very quickly change.

A clue might be that where he took off the wind is calm. The wind is seldom calm near the coast. I suspect he was in one of the very narrow areas where the sea breeze was colliding with the land breeze. In a matter for a couple blocks it could change from a strong easterly wind to calm to a strong westerly wind. This is one reason that SWFL is the lightning capital of the US.

Best bet is to use the Windy app as it will show where they converge and hope it doesn't change much while you are flying. Not extreme example here but gives the idea of the effect.

Also: the way storms work, the winds usually shift around quickly, depending where you are. For example, as a storm approaches you will often be in the inflow region of the storm, with the air blowing towards the storm as it is ingested by the storm's updraft. Once the storm gets close enough, you end up in the outflow, which blows away from the storm as it is air that is rushing down out of the sky as a downdraft and then spreading out laterally as it hits the ground.

TLDR, don't fly near storm unless you know how they work and don't mind losing your drone