Wind & Draft Corridor Index: hyperlocal wind-hazard checker

Enter a start point and destination on the map, and Wind & Draft shows you a walking route with live wind speed, gust direction, temperature, wind-chill, and draft corridor risk flags along the way.

It is made for anyone who wants to know the wind conditions before they set out: bike commuters, urban pedestrians, delivery workers, and outdoor runners who need to plan their route around gusts, downdrafts, and cold exposure.

Try the route checker How it works

It runs entirely in your browser. It uses Open-Meteo for live weather, plus reports submitted by other users.

Wind & Draft Corridor Index uses two public, free data services — OpenStreetMap and OSRM — plus reports submitted by other users. It does not track you, and it does not require an account.

How it works

Wind & Draft Corridor Index breaks an A-to-B journey into three steps.

  1. You enter a start point and a destination.
  2. Wind & Draft calculates a walking route between them using OSRM, an open-source routing engine that is designed to run on OpenStreetMap data.
  3. Wind & Draft fetches live weather for the route start and end from Open-Meteo, then estimates wind-chill, gust impact, and draft-corridor risk using building density and street orientation. It also scans building footprints to flag sheltered vs exposed segments.

What the scan checks

  • Draft corridor segments. When high wind gusts intersect dense building footprints, downdrafts, corner jets, and channeling effects can create localized wind tunnels at street level. The tool flags segments with high building density and gusts above threshold.
  • Wind-chill drop segments. Using the NWS wind chill formula (valid for T ≤ 50°F and wind > 3 mph), the tool shows where wind will make it feel significantly colder than the actual air temperature — crucial for planning layers and duration.
  • Icy alley segments. When air temperature is near or below freezing AND the segment is surrounded by tall buildings (shadow/proxy for reduced sun), the tool flags potential icy alley conditions — black ice forms faster in shaded, sheltered spots.
  • Building density estimates. OpenStreetMap building footprints are used as a proxy for wind obstruction and downdraft risk. Denser building coverage near the route = higher likelihood of channeling effects.

Being honest about the estimates

These are the limits, stated plainly:

  • Open-Meteo's weather data comes from public weather models that update every hour or so. Conditions at ground level (where you walk) can differ from the model grid points, especially in complex urban terrain with towers and street canyons.
  • Wind-chill estimates follow the NWS formula but assume uniform wind at 10m height. Real street-level gusts from building downdrafts may feel stronger than the reported number.
  • Building proximity is used as a proxy for shading and downdraft risk. This is a heuristic, not a CFD simulation — dense blocks suggest trouble, but the exact location of a wind tunnel is guesswork without on-the-ground sensors.
  • The user-report layer lets people add what they actually felt: "corner gusts", "ice on this alley", "sheltered here". Trust patterns, not single reports.
  • Weather changes faster than any model. A route that was safe an hour ago can be dangerous now. Re-check close to your departure time.

The user-report layer exists for exactly these gaps.

One-tap crowd reporting

Open-Meteo weather is great, but it does not capture street-level gusts or ice formation in real time. That is why Wind & Draft also carries its own layer of crowd-sourced observations.

When you are out and encounter a problem — or when you notice a sheltered spot is now clear — tap the spot on the map and make a one-tap report:

  • Downdraft
  • Corner effect
  • Channel effect
  • Icy alley
  • Wind-chill drop

Use the rapid sliders to rate gust strength, cold exposure, and ice danger. Your report appears immediately as an unverified user observation.

Reports are observational. They are what one person felt at one moment, submitted as-is without an inspection team or verification. They can be wrong, and they can be stale — ice melts, wind shifts, a sheltered spot gets sun. When several recent reports describe the same spot, that is strong signal; a single old report is a hint worth checking, not a fact.

Who Wind & Draft Corridor Index is for

Bike commuters

Wind is a bike commuters weather problem twice a day. A headwind down a channeled street turns a 15-minute ride into a grind, and a gust through an intersection can push a loaded bike off line at exactly the wrong moment. Checking the draft corridors and gust zones on a route before leaving is the difference between arriving dry and arriving wrung out.

Urban pedestrians

For walkers, the tool works as an urban draft corridor route checker. The pedestrian version of "is it cold out?" is actually "is it cold out where Im walking?" The wind summary drawer shows where the worst exposures sit so you can pick a sheltered street when the temperature matters more than the distance.

Delivery workers

Delivery riders and foot couriers spend their whole shift exposed, and their route is usually assigned, not chosen. Knowing which segments will hit hardest — the gusty corner, the icy alley, the wind-chill drop — helps with the practical work of dressing correctly, pacing the day, and knowing what is coming before the next leg.

Outdoor runners

Tempo and breathing change when a gust hits mid-stride, and cold wind on damp clothing accelerates heat loss fast. Runners can use the per-segment wind and gust picture to plan direction, pick the sheltered route for easy days, and reserve the exposed out-and-back for when the wind is at their back.

Route checker and wind hazard map

Enter a start and destination to see a walking/cycling route with live wind, gusts, temperature, wind-chill, and draft/ice hazard estimates.

Plan your route

Tip: You can type a location or tap on the map to set the start point
Tip: You can type a location or tap on the map to set the destination
Loading route...

See a problem?

Tap anywhere on the map to report a downdraft, corner effect, channel effect, icy alley, or wind-chill drop. Reports are observational and unverified — use them as hints, not facts.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Wind & Draft Corridor Index a forecast or a safety guarantee?
Neither, exactly. It is a planning aid. Live wind and temperature come from a public weather API, building and street patterns add local context, and crowd reports add what people have actually felt on the ground. It can be wrong, it can be stale, and it cannot see everything — nothing at street level can. It is not an official forecast and it is not a substitute for your own judgment.
Why is the wind on my street stronger than what the app shows?
Because the weather model reports wind for the area at a standard height of 10 meters above open ground, and a downtown street canyon is neither 10 meters up nor open ground. Buildings redirect fast air down to sidewalk level in downdrafts and corner jets that no public weather model can resolve. When the app shows a gap between the model number and the street reality, the crowd reports and building-context flags are for exactly that.
How current is the weather data?
As current as the public weather models behind it. The models that feed the API update throughout the day — the highest-resolution regional models refresh every one to three hours — and conditions along your route are shown for your planned travel time. Even so, weather near the ground can shift faster than any model cycle: a passing squall or a wind shift can change a routes character in minutes. If the route matters, re-check it close to the time you leave.
Are crowd reports checked before they appear?
No. Reports are shown as submitted — sliders plus a short note — by people who were actually on the spot, with no staff review in between. That is the point, and it is also the weakness. Any single report is one persons snapshot at one moment. Trust patterns: several recent reports of the same corner say more than a lone old one.
Does the tool work anywhere?
The weather data covers the whole world, but the tool is at its best in cities, where there are tall buildings to create the effects it checks for, and where crowd reports accumulate fastest. In a suburb or a small town, the route check still shows live wind, gusts and temperature along every segment — the draft-corridor and icy-alley flags simply have fewer built structures and fewer reports to work from. There, "no flag" means "no reason to suspect trouble," not "the wind is guaranteed calm."
What does the tool NOT check?
It does not check rain, snow, lightning, flooding or air temperature alone (it reports temperature, but ice and wind chill are its specialties). Riding or walking through a downpour, a thunderstorm or standing water is outside what wind drafting and wind-chill flags cover — check current conditions yourself when any of those are a factor. It also cant tell you what a street is like in icy rain or freezing fog without user reports from that day, because conditions like those change every feature it flags faster than any report or model can keep up.
How do I report a wind-tunnel or icy spot?
Tap anywhere on the map and choose the type from the quick menu: downdraft, corner effect, channel effect, icy alley, or wind-chill drop. Add an optional note to make the report more useful, and submit. No account is needed. Reports appear immediately as user-submitted observations.

Important disclaimer

Weather utility disclaimer: Wind & Draft Corridor Index is an advisory tool, not an official weather forecast. User-submitted micro-climate notes and route hazard warnings are observational and are not independently verified, and local weather conditions shift rapidly. Wind and temperature data comes from a public API and may differ from on-the-ground conditions. Always check current conditions yourself and plan accordingly; never rely on this tool alone for safety-critical decisions.