Have you ever wondered what causes turbulence on your flight or how the pilots keep you safe? FOX Weather Meteorologist Jason Frazer went to the United Airlines Training Facility to find out.
While many flights encounter turbulence, most of the encounters are benign, but there are instances that can make for an unsettling travel experience.
Turbli, a website providing turbulence forecasts for the aviation industry, analyzed data from approximately 10,000 routes and 550 airports to identify the paths most affected by air turbulence.
By leveraging data from NOAA and the UK Met Office, experts determined that the route between Albuquerque (ABQ) and Denver (DEN) was the most impacted by turbulence in 2024.
The route, which spans approximately 350 miles, had an estimated Eddy Dissipation Rate (EDR) of 17.751.
While the value is considered to be rather light in aviation terms, it had the highest turbulence reading in the country.
Turbli classifies turbulence into five levels based on EDR: light (0-20), moderate (20-40), strong (40-60), severe (60-80) and extreme (80-100).
Other top routes in the U.S. for turbulence included Denver to Jackson, Wyoming; Jackson, Wyoming to Salt Lake City; and Denver to Salt Lake City.
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None of the routes across North America ranked among the roughest flights globally.
The global route with the most turbulence was found to be Mendoza, Argentina, to Santiago, Chile, with an average turbulence rate of 24.684.
The path spans the Andes mountains, the tallest mountain range in the Americas.
Higher terrain and mountains tend to cause greater episodes of turbulence because of the way air is forced up and over peaks.
According to data analyzed by aviation experts, turbulence tends to be greater during the winter months due to the position and strength of the jet stream.
During the warmer months, thunderstorms can also often trigger episodes of turbulence, as well as what are known as crosswinds.
“Turbulence is relatively homogeneous, meaning that no matter the direction of the plane, it will get bumpy when it passes though it. On the other hand, airports where the crosswind level in the runway is high will lead to a more challenging and bumpy landing, even if the wind is blowing steady with little turbulence. Crosswinds are entirely dependent on runway orientation: flip the runway 90 degrees, and the crosswinds become an easy to manage headwind. The rankings presented here rank turbulence, not crosswinds,” experts at to Turbli stated.
Airplane wing with clouds on August 24, 2017.
(Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images / Getty Images)
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According to the Federal Aviation Administration, turbulence is the leading cause of incidents involving commercial air carriers.
From 2008 to 2022, turbulence was responsible for at least 152 incidents where at least one serious injury was reported.
The agency said the financial impact of turbulence is just as significant, with a recent study putting damage costs at around $100 million per year.
“Better forecasts begin with better observations. Historically, pilot reports were the only method of observing the location and intensity of turbulence. Because traditional pilot reports are subjective and limited in temporal and spatial resolution, newer methods of objective, aircraft-independent and near real-time turbulence detection have been developed. These improved observing methods calculate EDR, an aircraft-independent (applicable across airframe types) measure of the state of the atmosphere,” the FAA previously stated.