Hi Borislip, nice job getting your bird back. Did you have a wind forecast or current wind meter readings in hand (ie local airports, etc) before flying?
I live in an area (sand bar sticking out in the Atlantic Ocean) where life is dictated by wind. Most of my activities (sailing, windsurfing, kiteboarding, SUPing) involve thinking about wind all the time.
Everything thing from updraft/downdraft/rotor effects around buildings/hills/trees, nearshore midday convective "sea breezes" and turbulence effects due to land mass heating, which local meters are in wind shadows versus those with unobstructed locations, combining wind forecast with frontal system forecasts to get a feel for how gusty it will be (if you think 30+ mph winds are tough try winds going 8-30 every 20 seconds). You can even have complex stuff like thermal barriers (warm air mass over cold land or water mass) preventing winds at say 40 AGL from making it to the surface, which is quite the on-off switch with our kiteboarding kites whipping around at the end of 24 meter lines.....
With the newer drones able to handle more wind, it's probably a good thing for UAV pilots to start checking out more of these near surface wind effects. NOAA aviation wind aloft forecasts I think start at 3000 ft so I'm not so sure it's as useful for drone flying,.....or even the ultralight flying I did many moons ago. FWIW, I actually have had decent luck with Weather Underground for short range wind forecasting in my area, although I still have access to custom wind forecast/meters.
Happy flying!
