Comment by prawn
16 hours ago
I've flown my Mavics in rain and strong wind before - certainly stronger than anything I'd associate with lightning. Most of the lightning storms I've seen haven't been especially windy, but it might vary elsewhere. And that's a consumer drone with negligible weatherproofing.
I assume if there's a business case, they'll eventually automate this with drone swarms that wait in cabinets on building rooftops.
FWIW, where I live there are often intense thunderstorms during the spring and summer, and they are usually accompanied by windstorms, sometimes generating tornadoes.
I've been in Tokyo in some massive storms (NTT is a Japanese company), the wind and rain is absolutely insane sometimes. Kind of like a 30 minute hurricane.