Everything you need to know about airplane turbulence
What is turbulence, really: Turbulence is an irregular motion of the air resulting from eddies and vertical currents.
Turbulence explained: There are several types of turbulence that can make your flight uneven and bumpy.
Clean-air turbulence: Clear-air turbulence is defined as sudden severe turbulence occurring in cloudless regions that causes violent buffeting of aircraft.
Thermal turbulence: Thermal turbulence is a weather phenomenon defined as rising thermals of air generated by surface heating.
Temperature inversion turbulence: A temperature inversion is a layer of the atmosphere in which temperature increases with altitude.
Mechanical turbulence: Mechanical turbulence occurs when the air near the surface of the Earth flows over obstructions, such as irregular terrain or buildings.
Frontal turbulence: Frontal turbulence describes a cold air mass pushing up warm air, which causes an abrupt wind shift and therefore turbulence.
Mountain wave turbulence: As the description suggests, mountain wave turbulence is turbulence generated by strong winds blowing across mountain ranges.
Thunderstorm turbulence: Severe turbulence is often experienced during a thunderstorm. In fact, rather than the risk of a lightning strike.
Wind shear: Wind shear is the change in wind direction and/or wind speed over a specific horizontal or vertical distance.