According to Stehn, strong southeast winds and thermals provide ideal migration conditions.
Cranes usually depart when high pressure systems brings south or east winds and sunshine to Texas.
All along their migration path, the whoopers wait for high pressure and favorable winds to continue their migration. In contrast, low pressure systems are associated with storms. The least favorable conditions for crane migration are low pressure systems with north winds. When the migrating whoopers encounter these storms with their north winds, the birds will quickly find a place to land and wait for several days until the north winds rotate back around to the south. During these storms, the whoopers will make short daily flights out to grain fields to feed, returning to wetlands where they will spend the night.