Unmanned aerial vehicle system and methods

A method for generating a storm estimate, comprising:

• retrieving raw weather data from a radar source, the raw weather data having a high resolution;
• obtaining a maximum estimate size of hail (MESH) from the raw weather data;
• correlating a MESH above a given threshold with a radar geographical location and a time span;
• retrieving at least one radar weather data pixel within a given hall radius of the radar geographical location and the given time span:
• filtering the at least one radar weather data pixel to remove noise and clutter;
• retrieving atmospheric level data for the locations of atmospheric temperatures of 0° C. and −20° C. for the at least one radar weather data pixel at given intervals during the time span;
• calculating at least one new MESH using the atmospheric level data and the at least one radar weather data pixel;
• correlating the at least one new MESH with a hail geographical location corresponding to the at least one radar weather data pixel;
• acquiring wind velocity data for at least one radar weather data pixel;
• filtering out any wind velocity data below at least one given wind threshold;
• calculating a wind distance between the at least one radar weather data pixel and the radar geographical location;
• calculating a beam height and a beam azimuth of a radar beam emanating from the radar geographical location at the at least one radar weather data pixel;
• calculating at least one wind velocity and at least one wind direction from a radar wind speed and a radar wind direction, wherein the component of the radar beam in the radar wind direction and the height of the radar beam are used to calculate the at least one wind velocity and at least one wind direction;
• correlating the at least one wind velocity and at least one wind direction with a wind geographical location corresponding to the at least one radar weather data pixel;
• and
• creating an overlay of the at least one wind velocity and at least one wind direction on a map corresponding to the wind geographical location.

A system for generating a storm estimate, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a non-transitory computer readable medium programmed with computer readable code that upon execution by the processor causes the processor to execute a method for generating a storm estimate, comprising:
• retrieving raw weather data from a radar source, the raw weather data having a high resolution;
• obtaining a maximum estimate size of hail (MESH) from the raw weather data;
• correlating a MESH above a given threshold with a radar geographical location and a time span;
• retrieving at least one radar weather data pixel within a given hail radius of the radar geographical location and the given time span;
• filtering the at least one radar weather data pixel to remove noise and clutter;
• retrieving atmospheric level data for the locations of atmospheric temperatures of 0° C. and −20° C. for the at least one radar weather data pixel at given intervals during the time span;
• calculating at least one new MESH using the atmospheric level data and the at least one radar weather data pixel;
• correlating the at least one new MESH with a hail geographical location corresponding to the at least one radar weather data pixel;
• and
• creating an overlay of the at least one new MESH on a map corresponding to the hail geographical location, wherein the overlay is in the form of at least one hail polygon corresponding to the at least one radar weather data pixel;
• and
• designating at least one hail polygon having at least one new MESH above a given threshold as a mission area for at least one unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV).