Onboard real time wind indication

[Roger Crier]

Hi everyone,

Is there anyone out there who has figured out how to get an onboard real time indication of wind speed and its relative direction to the cars motion? You could then tell instantly the wind speed and whether it was helping or hindering your journey.

There may be some sort of hand held GPS that will already give this sort of info from say the sailing fraternity, or perhaps a web application can be made for the iPhone so its new location ability in maps can be upgraded with weather info overlaid and the map twisted so your current direction of travel takes precedence over the maps northerly point.......... come on, there must be someone out there with a brain and nothing much else to do !

Rog.

P.S. This may have been better placed in the MPG section, but I wanted to get read by the technicians

[red1dr]

I look at flags along my route. The local Hummer dealer has an especially big one.

[Roger Crier]

Ah, I thought of that, but there are no flags along my usual route!

Rog

[red1dr]

Maybe donate one to a suitable location? Perhaps it if were a charitable organization you could get a tax write-off for it?

[Fred]

Look at the clouds (if any are there). That'll give you an idea where the overall weather is coming from and the cloud type(s) and percent coverage will give you an idea of what to expect weather wise.

Look to the top(s) of trees (wth or without leaves) as the swaying of the branches up there will give you a reasonably good idea of the strength (MPH) of what are essentially the ground or surface wind(s).

... maybe I spent too much time at sea :-)

Fred / Proud Owner of "The Silver Bullet"

[joecvt]

If you go by looking at flags and clouds and such....You might as well use the built-in indicator of MPG that the Insight already has

Low MPGs that day and every other condition seems normal...Must be a head wind...High MPGs...Must be a tail wind...

JoeCVT - Just you average CVT owner

[james]

You could try picking up a used airspeed indicator from an aircraft salvage place, though they're probably scaled too high. Maybe hang glider/ultralight places.

For wind direction, the simplest thing is the old sailplane pilot's trick of taping a piece of yarn in the middle of the windshield. Of course that just gives relative wind, but it would let you know if there's a crosswind.

[boogetyboogety]

You might as well use the built-in indicator of MPG that the Insight already has

If the windshield is wet, it indicates rain; if it is iced over, low temperatures; if broken, large hail; etc. etc. etc.

Man, sometimes I even crack myself up (even if no one else gets it)...

Actually, though, a good question from the OP... intriguing idea...

[Roger Crier]

Yea yea, very good...

At the moment I can call up local weather info on my cell phone which gives me wind speed and direction and I can correlate that to my knowledge of my route and its direction. I just thought it would be a lot easier if the avaliable technology was made to work harder, to cover situations where I am not too sure of the local topography!

After all, that is what our Insight is, a ten year old snapshot on the best avaliable technology.

Rog

[james]

Ah, but if you lived around here, you would know you can travel a few miles and find the wind blowing in opposite directions, or calm one place and a near gale the other...