Winds stream information

[captain-marvel]

Does anyone have a good app / website that will give you details wind readings at various altitudes?

I have A number of weather apps that will show direction of surface stream and wind stream, but it doesn't break it down at various altitudes.

I'm just wondering if there is a good way to see surface speed, 100 foot, 1000 foot, etc.

 

[captain-marvel]

I found this, but i don't suspect the wind reading is anything more than surface wind.

UAV Weather Forecast

Granted there might not be good data available at anything above surface readings.

I'm guessing wind is many times stronger at a 1000 feet. Although in theory you shouldn't fly that high ....

 

[TX-Xced]

Windyty, wind forecast

 

[olof Ekbergh]

I found this, but i don't suspect the wind reading is anything more than surface wind.

UAV Weather Forecast

Granted there might not be good data available at anything above surface readings.

I'm guessing wind is many times stronger at a 1000 feet. Although in theory you shouldn't fly that high ....

Here is the best place for aviation WX:
AWC - ADDS Wind Temp Data

There is winds aloft for every station in the us, you have to click on a station in the lower right region of the page.

This is the typical format for winds aloft.

In this case BGR (Bangor ME) has wind at 3000' from 310 degrees at 15 kts, and at 6000' fro 290 degrees at 20 kts temp -5 degrees C. etc

There is a lot of information on this site, you need to know bit of Metar to read some of it.

 

[captain-marvel]

Thanks.

I also just discovered that healthy drones now has a wind estimation tool. It bases the wind gust based on angle of aircraft relative to what the controls are doing.

I suspect it's not accurate, but it's a pretty cool idea.

 

[captain-marvel]

Here is the best place for aviation WX:
AWC - ADDS Wind Temp Data

There is winds aloft for every station in the us, you have to click on a station in the lower right region of the page.

This is the typical format for winds aloft.

View attachment 34324
In this case BGR (Bangor ME) has wind at 3000' from 310 degrees at 15 kts, and at 6000' fro 290 degrees at 20 kts temp -5 degrees C. etc

There is a lot of information on this site, you need to know bit of Metar to read some of it.

Wow this is an awesome website. I'm sort of geeking out on this. I read a crash course on Metar.

How good are you at reading it?

For the degree'd wind reading, is that where the wind is FROM or is that the direction the wind is blowing TO?

Thanks.

 

[jbright]

It's the direction the wind is coming from.

 

[olof Ekbergh]

Wow this is an awesome website. I'm sort of geeking out on this. I read a crash course on Metar.

How good are you at reading it?

For the degree'd wind reading, is that where the wind is FROM or is that the direction the wind is blowing TO?

Thanks.

I am a private pilot so I have to be able to read condensed WX data. When I first got my license it was not called Metar, just abbreviated WX forecasts. It became Metar in the 90's I think. You can find courses on Metar on the WEB. It is a leftover from the days of TelePrinters.

Here is a good start learning Metar:
Metar Tutorial | Weather Underground

 

[klawtrax]

Someone needs to build an app that utilizes the information on that site.

 

[olof Ekbergh]

Here is a cool surface wind site:
Wind Map

 

[badbeerbreath]

Someone needs to build an app that utilizes the information on that site.

Not sure if this is what you mean, but it uses metar info from most all airports everywhere into the app. You can view the raw Metar, or have it translated. I use it all the time.

AeroWeather Lite on the App Store

 

[klawtrax]

That is perfect. Thanks

 

[captain-marvel]

Someone needs to build an app that utilizes the information on that site.

There is also this one I found that I started using

Station Weather - METAR and TAF Aero Weather by Oliver Puetz
Station Weather - METAR and TAF Aero Weather on the App Store

 

[Mark The Droner]

I found this, but i don't suspect the wind reading is anything more than surface wind.

UAV Weather Forecast

Granted there might not be good data available at anything above surface readings.

I'm guessing wind is many times stronger at a 1000 feet. Although in theory you shouldn't fly that high ....

That's the site I use. Look at it. You can set your maximum flying height for your particular flight and it will give you the winds at that height. The higher the altitude, the stronger the winds.

 

[olof Ekbergh]

NOAA reports winds aloft in 3000' increments as wells surface winds. IE 3000 AGL, 6000AGL, 9000 AGL etc..

Pilots use this information to estimate winds at any given altitude to plan flights and figure how much fuel to use for a flight. Use the most advantageous altitude for your heading.

This data comes from weather balloons and in the future from Lidar. It is often off by quite a bit especially at the surface and 3000'.

Seeing how we are not supposed to fly above 400' most of the winds aloft you want to look at is surface and 3000'. Experience comparing the NOAA wind forecasts to actual local conditions will help a lot.

Small model aircraft like P3P's are very susceptible even to thermal winds (they can come from any direction, always flowing into the thermal) those are not even reported and come and go quickly. So getting use dot local conditions and learning to read the sky and trees etc is how you get better at it.

I usually look at surface winds reported either from airports or a very useful site is the weatherunderground local reporting stations.

Here is a link to the one at my local AMA field:
Weather | Personal Weather Station: MCWYN3 by Wunderground.com | Weather Underground

These weather stations exist all over the country. Just play around with the site, it has tons of other useful weather information.