Wind Speed vs Gusts: What Drone Pilots Need to Know
Two drones can face the exact same "15 km/h wind" reading and have completely different flights — because that single number hides whether the wind was a steady 15 km/h the whole time, or averaged 15 km/h while spiking to 35 km/h every few seconds. That spike is a gust, and it's often the more important number to watch.
What a gust actually is
A gust is a short-lived increase in wind speed above the sustained (average) level, typically lasting only a few seconds. Meteorologically, sustained wind is usually an average over a 10-minute window, while a gust is the peak instantaneous reading within that same window. A "15 km/h sustained, 35 km/h gusts" reading means the wind averaged 15 km/h but repeatedly spiked to 35 km/h in short bursts.
Why gusts matter more for small drones
A consumer or prosumer multirotor's flight controller is very good at trimming against a steady crosswind — it applies a constant counteracting force and holds position. A gust is different: it's a sudden, short-duration force the controller has to react to reactively, not proactively. The smaller and lighter the aircraft, the larger the relative effect of the same absolute gust speed, which is exactly why lighter drone weight classes get tighter gust thresholds in UAV Meteo's drone profiles than heavier prosumer aircraft do.
Gusts are also what typically causes the sudden, sharp attitude corrections you see filmed in "drone almost crashes in wind" videos — not steady wind, which a well-tuned aircraft handles smoothly right up until its real limit.
How UAV Meteo rates the two separately
On the home page, Wind Speed and Wind Gusts are two separate cards with two separate thresholds — by design, not as a limitation. It's entirely normal and expected to see a green (good) wind speed card next to a yellow (caution) gust card on a gusty day; that combination is telling you something real, not showing you conflicting information.
If you've set up a custom drone profile using your manufacturer's published max wind speed resistance, both thresholds are derived from that one number with an appropriate safety margin — see What Wind Speed Is Safe for Flying a Drone? for how that works in more detail.
A note on altitude
Gusts can also change with altitude, similarly to sustained wind — see Why Wind Can Be Stronger at 120m Than at Ground Level if you're planning a flight that climbs well above 10 meters.
For the complete rundown of every rated metric and how the overall status is calculated, see our flying guide.
This article is general guidance, not a substitute for your drone manufacturer's official operating limits. See our legal & disclaimer page for details.