Is it a good day to fly your drone?
Pick a spot near Coalville or enter your own coordinates, choose a day, and this tool reads the hourly forecast for wind at drone height, gusts, rain, visibility and temperature. It then marks each hour as good, caution or no-fly, and shows the best flying window.
How to use it
The wind a few metres above the ground is not the wind at 100 metres. Forecasts for 10 m wind often look calm while the air at 120 m is far stronger, and that is the air your drone sits in. This tool uses the forecast wind at 120 m and the gust forecast, then compares both with the limit of your drone.
Small drones in the 250 g class cope with roughly 24 mph before they struggle to hold position or return home. Mid-size drones manage around 27 mph. Those are rough figures, so pick the custom option and enter the limit from your own manual if you know it.
For landscape work the best hours are often the first and last of the day, when the light is good and the wind has dropped. Check the hourly table for those windows and the 7-day strip for the calmest day this week.
Questions
Where does the forecast come from?
It uses the free Open-Meteo weather forecast, loaded in your browser when you open the page. No account or key is needed.
What wind speed is too high for a drone?
It depends on the model. Light drones are limited to about 24 mph, bigger ones to about 27 mph or more. The tool lets you choose or enter your own limit and flags hours that come close to it.
Does this replace checking airspace rules?
No. It covers weather only. Before you fly, check the airspace and the current rules from the Civil Aviation Authority, and register as the rules require.
More drone tools: Where to fly around Coalville · Drone ND Filter Calculator · Drone Panorama Planner