A method for predicting arrival of a wind event at an aeromechanical structure includes sensing wind velocity in an atmospheric volume moving towards the aeromechanical structure to obtain a time series of spatially distributed wind velocity measurements, determining presence of the wind event from at least one of the distributed wind velocity measurements, and tracking the wind event based upon the time series of spatially distributed wind velocity measurements to estimate arrival time of the wind event at the aeromechanical structure. A wind-predicting system uses a lidar and a wind-predicting unit to implement this method. An aeromechanical apparatus integrates this wind-predicting system to predict wind events at the aeromechanical apparatus.