Patent attributes
Weather data is used to create and/or update a flight plan prior to and/or during flight by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The weather data may be received using sensors onboard the UAV and/or the weather data may be received from other sources, such as weather aggregators, other UAVs, other vehicles, and/or local weather stations. In some embodiments, a UAV may be prematurely grounded after initiating flight toward a destination in response to some weather conditions identified in near real-time weather data, such as heavy winds and/or heavy precipitation. In various embodiments, the UAVs may leverage air stream information included in the weather data to cause flight along with an air stream, and thereby reduce power resources used to fly to a destination.
