Why It's So Bumpy

I recently got a question from a reader: When you are flying in clouds and the ride is bumpy, is it bumpy because its cloudy or is it cloudy because its bumpy? Good question. Turbulence is often approached from a rather pragmatic approach in aviation, and that often leaves pilots with questions about where it fits in with weather patterns. Lets look at this piecemeal. From a meteorological perspective, turbulence is bumpiness caused by flight into an area where wind is changing over a small distance.

Tim Vasquez

Wednesday, January 25, 2017 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Turbulence is caused by wind shear and eddies, not inherently by clouds, and manifests in various forms including Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) near jet streams, Mountain Wave Turbulence influenced by terrain, and turbulence generated by convective activity within clouds.
Specific types of turbulence, such as mountain wave, thermal, and mechanical low-level turbulence, each have unique causes, typical altitudes, peak seasons, and associated hazards that pilots must understand.
Key safety measures for encountering turbulence include reducing airspeed to maneuvering speed, maintaining gentle control inputs, focusing on keeping the wings level, and communicating with air traffic control about potential altitude deviations.
While certain cloud types (e.g., cumulonimbus) are sources of significant turbulence, the phenomena of turbulence and clouds are distinct, with turbulence driven by wind changes and clouds by saturated air and lift.

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I recently got a question from a reader: “When you are flying in clouds and the ride is bumpy, is it bumpy because it’s cloudy or is it cloudy because it’s bumpy?” Good question. Turbulence is often approached from a rather pragmatic approach in aviation, and that often leaves pilots with questions about where it fits in with weather patterns.

Let’s look at this piecemeal. From a meteorological perspective, turbulence is bumpiness caused by flight into an area where wind is changing over a small distance. And we’re talking very small distances. While flying at 150 knots and being pulled upward one second, downward the next, and up again after another second, we can see that these changes are on the scale of hundreds of feet, and often even smaller. They may exist as areas of wind shear, where wind speed and direction is changing sharply from one location to another, or as turbulent eddies, where the wind flow has broken into a whirl, like a wave.