Sigmo
Second Officer
United States
Offline
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I thought all of you Mini owners would like this:
https://windexchange.energy.gov/maps-data/325
This is a map showing the annual average wind speed at 30 meters elevation above ground level for the entire continental US. There are probably similar maps for other regions of the world. The reason this map exists is to help folks planning where to put wind power farms. I'm NOT a fan of wind power for a number of reasons, but that's a subject for a different forum, I suppose. But i'm sure they're interested in winds at these elevations above ground level because that's probably dead center for many of these turbines. And that works out pretty well for us Mini fliers because it gives a better idea of the winds we might find up at a typical height where we'll be flying.
There may well be other maps showing the winds at even higher elevations above ground level that could be very interesting for drone flying. It'd be interesting to see overlays showing ground level, 100', 200', 300', and 400' just to give people a better feel for how much windier it usually is as you go higher above the ground. I get the feeling that most people don't have a good gut-feel for this, and that's part of what gets us into trouble when we take our Mini out for a spin.
Basically, this shows that where I live, I shouldn't expect to fly my Mini very much on average. ;) And so far, that's provent to be true. Fortunately, we do have some calmer weather in the summer, so I'm looking forward to that.
I may have a window of opportunity tomorrow morning around 09:00, but it will be too cold. That's usually the case here. The lowest wind times are between midnight and early after dawn, which may well be the pattern most places since you don't have the sunlight heating the earth and stirring things up. A friend who flies ultralights always plans on taking off right around dawn. Sometimes I'm up that late, so it's possible I can take advantage of not only the calmer air, but the "golden hour" lighting at some point.
You see that small purple area with the worst average wind in that map? Yep. That's pretty much right where I live, of course!
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