Please don't suggest to stick my wet finger up in the air.
1. What options are there to have portable device (anemometers?) for measuring wind speed and direction?
2. Suppose one is measuring the wind speed at ground level in a completely open area (1 Km radius 360 degrees); what differences in wind speed can be expected at 100 m above ground?
3. How to detect with such device sudden wind speed changes, thus considering the place and time too risky for flying our I1?
Thanks and regards,
Bogdan

Make your finger wet and try this
https://www.windyty.com

dundee Posted at 2015-3-4 14:08
Make your finger wet and try this
https://www.windyty.com

Thank you so much Dundee!
I will use this service for sure.
Just to be on the safe side, I will still be looking to purchase an anemometer, at least for those situations when I am in remote areas without internet connection, since forecasts may change suddenly (from the time I've checked and the time I will be flying).
Best regards,
Bogdan

bornish, the air is a strange old beast, I had a situation once coming in to land my paramotor. All was going well on the decent until I hit about 300 feet above ground level. I suddenly started going backwards in relation to the ground and started looking around for another landing field as I wasn't going to make the original one. 150 feet further down the decent I started making progress again and landed into the original field. There was basically a thin band of air going in the opposite direction to the main wind direction. I have no idea what may have been causing it. The point of the boring story is don't rely on what is going on at ground level, or even where you are actually standing, as being a true reflection of the overall conditions. If you have a look at paragliding or paramotoring retailers you will find good  pocket sized anemometers. We always have a small windsock on the end of a carp fishing pole (they are ideal as they are long and fold down for transport) for wind direction at ground level.
There are two things that It might be helpful to be aware of. Particularly In the summer, thermals can build during the hottest parts of the day. As they drift through your flying area you often see the windsock changing direction suddenly and eratically, sometimes even pointing straight up vertically. This indicates turbulent air so take care. Secondly there is an effect named "Rotor" This occurs at the downwind side of an obstacle (house, tree etc) and can extend 7 times the height of the obstacle horizontally downwind. Think of a boulder that protrudes above the surface in a smoothly flowing stream. The water is very turbulent just downstream of the boulder but then becomes smooth again. This also happens on the leeward side of hills. There endeth the boring weather lecture but I hope it helps.   

I didn't explain that very well. The above should read that the band of air was travelling in the same direction but much faster than the overall wind speed. Whatever it was doing it was F****** Scary  

found this on Amazon for $26. Probably not the greatest quality but no doubt adequate for your use.

Hi Bogdan (quite a familiar name in my country)

Considering you need a smartphone to control the Inspire, you should try this device, it will give you the informations you need about wind, directions etc.

http://vaavud.com

Dave E Posted at 2015-3-4 17:50
bornish, the air is a strange old beast, I had a situation once coming in to land my paramotor. All  ...

Dave that is fascinating NOT boring at all i enjoyed it..vbg

mani Posted at 2015-3-4 19:17
Hi Bogdan (quite a familiar name in my country)

Considering you need a smartphone to control the In ...

That is an infected WEBSITE! Beware

I use an app called Hover, has wind speed and direction and drone news.  Not sure how accurate it is, but seems to do the job.

arunmehta Posted at 2015-3-4 19:21
That is an infected WEBSITE! Beware

Kind of strange, on my browser it works fine, but if click on the linkfrom the forum it does not work. If you google Vaavud windmeter, you should see the product, also their website.

Clem2099 Posted at 2015-3-4 20:47
I use an app called Hover, has wind speed and direction and drone news.  Not sure how accurate it is ...

I tried something similar to that. The only problem I see with it is it's measuring the wind speed at the weather station site, not where you're flying.

Wound up ordering an anemometer by La Crosse on Amazon. Just tried it for the first time this morning.

In Canada I use enviornment Canada which has an excellent site for up the hour in a general area.  It also has links to AWWS for Aviation weather and another good site for North America is Weatherbug which can get you much closer to rural areas.  The next level I go to is to have a portable weather station on site.   For that I use an Accurite station which is very good for wind, temp, Winchill and Dew point. You can get a very good station for around $100.00. I bought mine at Bass Pro they have a good selection of home weather stations.  

Also interesting, with more features http://www.windoo.ch

Do not forget when you go up higher windspeeds will increase.I know this when I'm flying kites.With a little breeze I always use lines from over 100mtr(300 feet) where is much more wind

Thank you all for input... as I thought, there're plenty of options when considering wind measurements and having some recommendations helps me a lot in the decision I have to make. It seems that we all agree that wind is a huge danger and very unpredictable. Trying to understand more about it can only help us make better decisions about flying or not, or even quitting our flight missions when we notice unwanted behavior caused by wind.
I have an additional question: do we have an option where we can install an anemometer on the I1 and have the real-time readings while flying? It would be Ideal to be connected the Lightbridge system and the DJI Pilot application to observe these values, but probably we can't expect that soon. I would be happy with any other device that can be attached to the I1 and transmit the data on a different channel, with less range, but without causing interference to the Lightbridge connection. I can then to a short test flight at a low altitude and near range only for wind readings around me, before I turn off this device and do my real flight mission.
The above are just thoughts to overcome any misleading readings at take-off site (ground level) or old and unprecise forecasts from any available service that covers the area.
Thanks again and best regards,
Bogdan

I use  Foreflight app but it is for aviation use, it is also expensive.  Try Aviation Weather from NOAA/NWS app its free.  It will give everything you need for weather related flying.

The way I look at it is you may not be in the cockpit but you sure are flying so think like a licensed pilot.

dundee Posted at 2015-3-4 14:08
Make your finger wet and try this
https://www.windyty.com

Nice link Dundee. Awesome wind map! i'll be using this one.

I normally step out of the car, if my hat stays on it's safe to fly.

markaguille Posted at 2015-3-15 00:22
I normally step out of the car, if my hat stays on it's safe to fly.

...............same me

try AeroWeather too. Free for both platforms I believe. Also aviation related but will pickup the nearest airport weather reports with a single click so you have reliable multi-point observations.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/aeroweather-lite/id288286079?mt=8

For those of us that live in southwest Canada we have at our disposal perhaps the most useful tool for pilots know in the modern world, not kidding either. This was developed for ultralight pilots and hang glider/ paraglider pilots by scientists that were bored Anyhoo it's called Canada RASP tables. These tables show current and projected wind speeds and direction at any level up to many thousands of meters. It graphically displays your area of interest and topography and will indicate the direction of the wind around hills, mountains etc. it also displays stability of air which is what glider pilots really want to know... The more unstable the air, the better the thermal activity! If you want to know what the atmosphere is going to throw at your site tomorrow at 13:30 at 100 meters this is the ticket! Check it out! Again only for SW canada and maybe the North part of the pacific nw. This program is extremely reliable almost 100 percent.

Go to CanadaRasp.com.

I have this one

http://vaavud.com

Please, advise users where on earth the program may be useful and perhaps what information it contains.

dundee Posted at 2015-3-15 01:31
...............same me

Nice hat btw

Got mine from Amazon. Its a cheap tool but works well.


http://www.amazon.de/Digitaler-W ... keywords=windmesser