Extreme Airplane Turbulence Is Increasing Due to Climate Change — Here are Some Bumpy Routes

The flight can be stressful enough without 1,000 -foot drops and serious tremors. But this is what the passengers of a recent Delta flight out of Salt Lake City had to endure while a wave of turbulence rocked their plane. The passengers said they had to hold a member of the cabin crew on the ground to prevent them from being launched on the ceiling.

If it seems that turbulence stories have been more frequent recently, it is not only because short videos of drinks and flying phones around Tiktok; Changes in our atmosphere forged by climate change make turbulence more likely.

What causes turbulence?

Unpredictable atmospheric disturbances cause turbulence. An airplane traveling through drafts is like a boat crossing the ocean. The mountains, storms and other characteristics of air pressure increase the choppinetity of this ocean.

Most turbulence consists of small air waves that could make a little more than overflowing a drink. Severe turbulence, however, can cause significant and sudden changes in the path or altitude of a plan. This type of turbulence can temporarily bring control of the pilots of their plane. One of these incidents killed a 73 -year -old man from a heart attack on a London flight in Singapore in 2024.

While death -related deaths are fortunately rare, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) has recorded more than 200 turbulence injuries between 2009 and 2023. These incidents are particularly dangerous for driving crew members who are less likely to wear security belts should undergo a sudden turbulence strike. The recent Delta flight ended with 25 hospital passengers.

Learn more: How do planes fly? An aerospace engineer explains flight physics

How our warming planet increases the risk of turbulence

These extreme turbulence events could soon become more common. Climate change will modify the upper atmosphere of our planet, and experts say that this will increase the probability of temperature changes and agitated wind patterns.

“We can expect a doubling or a hat -trick in the quantity of severe turbulence in the world in the coming decades,” said Paul Williams, atmospheric scientist at Reading University, in an article for the Bbc.

Williams added that the duration of each of these incidents could also double or triple during this period. The follow-up of this climb is Ignacio Gallego-Marcos, an expert in the dynamics of calculation fluids which records the turbulence of more than 10,000 flight paths through a site called Turpli.

The most turbulent flights in the world

The Gallego-Marcos site classifies turbulent flights by calculating their average rate of dissipation from Foucault (EDR). This measures the speed with which turbulent air flows dissipate their energy – a stronger turbulence causes higher EDRs.

• Turnubli data show that if you want to avoid turbulence, avoid flying for Santiago – four routes to the Chilean capital are among the first ten turbulents.
• The Argentine city of Mendoza and the capitals of Nepal and Bhutan are also strongly in the top ten. These tracks all survive on mountainous land, which cuts stable air currents and considerably increases the risk of turbulent flights.
• Although there are no North American roads in the top 10, Turpli reports that the most turbulent flight of the continent is the journey from Albuquerque to Denver, because the planes are thrown while crossing the rocky mountains.
• In the same vein, the most turbulent flights in Europe pass over the Alps.

Some particularly turbulent flights go nowhere near the mountains. These routes are victims of “light air” turbulence, caused by fast air in jet jets. The strength of these rivers is affected by the air temperature and our warming planet increases light air turbulence.

A 2023 study revealed that the incidents of severe clear turbulence on the roads above the North Atlantic were 55% more frequent in 2020 than they were 40 years ago. During the continental United States, incidents increased by 41%. As clear air turbulences are more difficult to predict than other types of turbulence, this could cause more injuries on buffered flights.

A source of comfort is that aviation companies design their planes to manage turbulence – the wings of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner can bend 25 feet – and that the flight remains a very safe way to travel. But the increase in turbulence is just another way for climate change makes our planet a more risky place to live and travel.

Learn more: What are the safest seats on a plane? And 13 other aircraft security issues answered

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